Allen & Gledhill has acted as Singapore counsel to Ascendas Fund Management, the manager of Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust, on the £200.03 million (US$227m) acquisition of 12 logistics properties in the UK. Deputy managing partner Jerry Koh and partner Foong Yuen Ping led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Allen & Overy has advised the BMW Group on its contract extension for the joint venture BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) and its intention to increase its stake in BBA from 50 percent to 75 percent. BBA is a JV between BMW and Brilliance China Automotive (CBA). The transaction is subject to the approval of the relevant authorities and the consent of CBA shareholders. The JV also announced an investment of more than €3 billion (US$3.4b) in new and existing plant structures in Shenyang in the coming years. Partners Jack Wang (Shanghai) and Michael Jacobs (Hong Kong) led the firm’s team in the transaction, which is the first move by a foreign automotive brand to take a controlling stake in an automotive manufacturing joint venture in China.
AZB & Partners is advising Reliance Industries on the Rs22.9 billion (US$310m) acquisition by Jio Futuristic Digital Holdings, Jio Digital Distribution Holdings and Jio Television Distribution Holdings of a controlling interest in Den Networks. Partners Ashwath Rau, Harsh Maggon, Samir Gandhi and Rahul Rai are leading the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on October 17, 2018 and is yet to be completed.
Clifford Chance has advised a banking consortium led by Deutsche Bank on the €278.25 million (US$316.3m) listing of Chinese household appliance producer Qingdao Haier on the German-Chinese stock exchange platform Ceinex (China Europe International Exchange) in Frankfurt. Next to Deutsche Bank, the consortium consisted of UBS, JP Morgan and CICC, which acted as joint book-runners. Qingdao Haier has so far only been listed in Shanghai with A-shares and is thus the first company to seek a second listing on the D-shares market since Ceinex was founded in 2015. The company’s D-shares started trading on October 24, 2018. The entry into the European capital markets is an important part of Qingdao Haier’s globalisation strategy. The company intends to use part of the proceeds to finance the parallel acquisition of the Italian household appliance producer Candy for €475 million (US$539.5m). Partners George Hacket, Marcus Stephanblome, Olaf Mertgen, Jean Thio and Connie Heng led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher is representing Kraft Heinz on the definitive agreement to sell Indian brands Complan, Glucon-D, Nycil and Sampriti to Zydus Cadila at a valuation of approximately Rs46 billion (US$625m) on a debt-free and cash-free basis. Under the agreement, Kraft Heinz will sell to Zydus Wellness, jointly with Cadila Healthcare, 100 percent of its equity shares in Heinz India, which is comprised of Complan, Glucon-D, Nycil and Sampriti brands, and two manufacturing facilities. At current exchange rates, this business generates approximately US$150 million in net sales and approximately US$30 million in adjusted EBITDA. The sale is not expected to have a material impact on Kraft Heinz’s annual financial results. The deal is expected to close in early 2019, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Kraft Heinz is the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world. Zydus Wellness is the listed entity of the Zydus group and is one of the leading companies in the fast growing Indian consumer health market. New York corporate partners Barbara Becker and Saee Muzumdar and Singapore corporate partner Jai Pathak are leading the firm’s team in the transaction, while Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, led by Mumbai managing partner Cyril Shroff and supported by partners Nivedita Rao, Ruetveij Pandya, Anchal Dhir, Ranjan Negi, Ashish Jain, Rashmi Pradeep, Avaantika Kakkar and Anshuman Sakleprovided, is acting as Indian counsel.
Gide is advising the Icicle group, a high-end Chinese fashion brand, on its buy-out of the luxury label Carven through its subsidiary in Paris. As part of the deal, Icicle is acquiring the design house, its remaining four stores in France, and all employees. The eco-friendly, Shanghai-based fashion company beat seven other bidders for the struggling French label, marking its third major investment in France, after opening a design centre in 2013 and acquiring real estate last year for its upcoming flagship store in Paris. Partners Caroline Texier (restructuring), Arnaud Michel (intellectual property), Bertrand Oldra (real estate) and Foulques de Rostolan (labour) are leading the firm’s team in the transaction.
J Sagar Associates has acted as underwriters’ counsel to IDBI Capital Markets & Securities, Axis Capital and SBI Capital Markets on the IPO of Ircon International. The IPO comprised of an offer for sale by the President of India, acting through the Ministry of Railways, of approximately ten million equity shares for approximately Rs4.7 billion (US$63.8m). Ircon is an integrated Indian engineering and construction company, specialising in major infrastructure projects. It has experience in executing major construction and infrastructure projects, both internationally and domestically. Partners Rohitashwa Prasad, Vikram Raghani and Arka Mookerjee led the firm’s team in the transaction.
J Sagar Associates has also advised the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority, Government of Maharashtra, on the approximately US$1.2 billion Pune Metro Line III (Hinjewadi-Shivajinagar) Project. Awarded to Trill Urban Transport and Siemens Project Ventures consortium, it is the first metro rail project being developed under the Metro Rail Policy of 2017. Partners Venkatesh Raman Prasad and Vishnu Sudarsan led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Mayer Brown has represented Development Bank of Mongolia (DBM), Mongolia’s development and export-import bank, on its benchmark US$500 million five-year bond that closed last week. DBM, a wholly government-owned and systematically important bank, were priced at 98.973 percent on a coupon of 7.25 percent to yield 7.5 percent. The bank will use the net proceeds to refinance existing debt, lower its cost of funding and extend the maturity profile of its existing indebtedness. The issuance marks another step in Mongolia’s positive trajectory by refinancing short-dated US dollar-denominated debt and reducing interest rate risk by shifting a portion of borrowings to a fixed interest rate. Global co-leader of the corporate and securities practice partner Jason Elder, supported by partners Thomas Kollar (Hong Kong), Doos Choi (Hong Kong), Jason Bazar (New York), Jared Goldberger (New York) and Lennine Occhino (Chicago), led the firm’s team in the transaction.
L&L has advised two separate consortiums of lenders led by State Bank of India on two term loan facilities, with letter of credit facilities and bank guarantee facilities as sub-limits, of Rs52.82 billion (US$718m) and Rs52.33 billion (US$711m) made available to Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan, to partly finance the cost of construction and development of natural gas based urea manufacturing complex projects with an aggregate urea capacity of 7,770 tons per day and ammonia capacity of 4,400 tons per day, in Barauni (Bihar) and Sindri (Jharkhand), respectively. Partner Aniket Sengupta led the firm’s team in the transaction.
S&R Associates has represented Bertelsmann India Investments on an investment in Delightful Gourmet, which operates Licious, a food brand in the meat and seafood category, as part of a US$25 million financing round also involving Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India, UCLA and other investors. Partner Rachael Israel led the firm’s team in the transaction.
