Allen & Gledhill has advised Mapletree Investments as sponsor, Mapletree Real Estate Advisers as manager and Mapletree Trustee as trustee on the establishment of MGSA Private Trust, the first student accommodation private fund in Singapore. The private trust holds 35 student accommodation assets in the UK and the US, valued at approximately US$1.3 billion. The private trust has successfully closed and raised US$535 million of equity. Partners Jerry Koh, Foong Yuen Ping and Jonathan Lee led the transaction.
AZB & Partners is advising GE Pacific and Alstom Bharat Forge Power on all acquisition aspects of merger control between GE and Alstom, including notification requirement with the Competition Commission of India. Partner Samir Gandhi is leading the transaction, which was valued at Rs2.3 billion (US$35.3m) and is yet to be completed.
AZB & Partners is also advising Imicron Web Services on its 100 percent acquisition by Techwave Holdings. Partner Aditya Bhat is leading the transaction, which was valued at Rs70 million (US$1.1m) and is yet to be completed.
Clifford Chance has advised the joint lead managers, comprised of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Bank of Communications Hong Kong, Barclays Bank, BNP Paribas, China Construction Bank (Asia), Citigroup Global Markets, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, DBS Bank, Merrill Lynch International, Mizuho Securities Asia, Morgan Stanley & Co International, MUFG Securities EMEA, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered Bank, on two simultaneous issuances by Lenovo Group. The issuance involved both a senior tranche of US$500 million 3.875 percent medium term notes due 2022 under its US$3 billion medium term note programme, on which the firm advised the arranger and dealers in 2016, and a subordinated tranche of US$850 million 5.375 percent perpetual securities in the form of cumulative preferred shares, with a performance guarantee from Lenovo Group. The two tranches were issued simultaneously. Partner Matt Fairclough led the transaction.
Clifford Chance has also advised China International Capital as the sole global coordinator for Hospital Corporation of China’s US$64 million IPO and listing in Hong Kong. Hospital Corporation of China is the core platform for the hospital operation and management business of Hony Capital, a well-known private equity fund affiliated with Legend Group. China co-managing partner Tim Wang and partners Jean Yu and Fang Liu led the transaction.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has advised Trust Investment Advisers as the arranger on the first state government revenue supported bonds aggregating up to Rs65.1 billion (US$1b) issued by Uttar Pradesh Power, a subsidiary company of the Government of Uttar Pradesh (GoUP). The entire state government revenue is available for servicing of the bonds. The payment servicing for the bonds is supported by a Reserve Bank of India (RBI)-backed structured debt servicing mechanism. Under this mechanism, in the event the bond servicing account falls short of the requisite amount, and if the GoUP is unable to fund it by a specified date, the RBI will debit the requisite amount from the GoUP’s account with the RBI and credit it to the bond servicing account to ensure timely servicing of the bonds. On the basis of this structure, the bonds have been granted a provisional AA rating by India Ratings and Research. The bonds are also backed by a sovereign guarantee provided by the GoUP. Mumbai banking partner Leena Chacko led the transaction, which closed on February 17, 2017.
Fangda has represented Jiangsu Xinquan Automotive Trim on its A-share IPO. Xinquan is a leading overall solution provider of automotive trim. Approved by CSRC for its IPO of no more than 39.85 million A shares, the company was listed in Shanghai on March 17, 2017. The underwriter of the IPO is China Securities. Corporate partner William Huang led the transaction.
Fangda has also represented Dongguan Chitwing Technology on its A-share IPO. Chitwing is a leading manufacturer of precise structural component and mould. Approved by CSRC for its IPO of no more than 60 million A shares, the company was listed in Shenzhen on March 21, 2017. The underwriter of the IPO is Citi Orient Securities. Corporate partner William Huang also led the transaction.
J Sagar Associates has advised Sohan Lal Commodity Management, its promoter Sandeep Sabharwal and Creation Investments Social Ventures Fund III on the partial sale of securities by some of the existing shareholders to Responsability Participations Mauritius and Agrif Cooperatief UA. Pursuant to this transaction, some of the existing investors have made a partial exit from the company. The transaction involved renegotiation of the existing SHA amongst the shareholders (who sold their securities), the purchasers and Creation (which did not sell any of its securities as part of this transaction). Post completion of the transaction, seven private equity investors will be holding a stake in the company. Partners Sidharrth Shankar and Lalit Kumar led the transaction.
J Sagar Associates has also advised Le Travenues Technology (Ixigo), which operates online search engine Ixigo.com, on an investment made by Fosun Kinzon Capital by subscribing to Ixigo’s compulsorily convertible preference shares and equity shares. The firm had also advised Ixigo in an earlier round of investment which closed on October 28, 2016, pursuant to which Sequoia Capital had invested in Ixigo by subscribing to compulsorily convertible preference shares and equity shares. Ixigo’s existing investors include SAIF Partners, Makemytrip, Micromax and Sequoia Capital. Partner Vivek Chandy led the transaction, which closed on March 17, 2017.
Khaitan & Co has advised JSW Steel on the €113.75 million (US$123.4m) bank guarantee facilities availed by JSW Steel (UK) and JSW Steel (Netherlands) from Credit Suisse, in connection with a bid submitted to the liquidator in Italy for the acquisition of a steel manufacturing unit of ILVA in Southern Italy, by a consortium of buyers led by the JSW group. JSW Group is a part of the OP Jindal Group with strong footprints across core economic sectors, namely steel, energy, infrastructure, cement, ventures and sports, with presence across India, the USA, South America and Africa. Partner Kumar Saurabh Singh led the transaction.
Khaitan & Co has also advised Ascendas India Trust and its affiliates on the purchase of 100 percent issued and paid-up share capital of Flagship Developers, along with the issuance of inter-corporate deposits to Flagship Developers. Ascendas India Trust is a property trust which owns seven IT parks in India. With an 11.2 million square feet portfolio spread across Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune, it is well positioned to capitalise on the fast-growing IT and business process management industries in India. Associate partner Abhishek Sinha, assisted by executive director Dinesh Agrawal and associate partner Atul Pandey, led the transaction.
Luthra & Luthra has advised the underwriters on Avenue Supermarts’ IPO of equity shares. The total size of the deal was Rs18.7 billion (US$285m). The deal involved nine lead managers, including Kotak, Axis, Edelweiss, HDFC Bank, ICICI Securities, Inga, JM Financial Motilal and SBI Caps and their affiliates acting as syndicate members. The issue was oversubscribed by 104.5 times. Partner Manan Lahoty led the transaction.
Luthra & Luthra is also advising CLSA India, DSP Merrill Lynch, IIFL Holdings and Motilal Oswal Investment Advisers as the global coordinators and book-running lead managers on YES Bank’s QIP of equity shares aggregating to approximately US$750 million. Partner Manan Lahoty is also leading the transaction.
Majmudar & Partners has acted as Indian counsel to CreditAccess Asia (CAA) on an approximately US$50 million growth capital equity investment by the Asian Development Bank to CAA’s pan-Asia microfinance operations. CAA provides professional and customised financial services to local micro entrepreneurs in India, Indonesia and the Philippines. Managing partner Akil Hirani led the transaction, which was one of the largest multilateral institution microfinance investments in Q1 of 2017. Jones Day acted as Dutch and Italian counsel, Accralaw acted as Filipino counsel and Latham & Watkins acted as Indonesian counsel to CAA.
Peter Yuen & Associates, in association with Fangda Partners, has represented SG Group Holdings on its listing and placing in Hong Kong. The listing and share offer of eight million ordinary shares raised approximately HK$46 million (US$5.9m) in gross proceeds, with an over-subscription of 379 times under the Hong Kong public offer. SG Group is a women’s wear and children’s wear designing and sourcing service provider for branded fashion retailers, including Monsoon Accessorise, East/East Lifestyle, Dunnes Stores, Crew Clothing, Long Tall Sally and ASOS.com. Anglo Chinese Corporate Finance acted as the sole sponsor, while Anglo Chinese Securities and Dongxing Securities (Hong Kong) acted as joint book-runners and joint lead managers. Corporate partner Arnold Pang led the transaction.
Rajah & Tann has acted for Kimly on its IPO in Singapore. Kimly is the first coffeeshop operator to list in Singapore. The public tranche of Kimly’s IPO has been oversubscribed by more than 335 times, and the entire offering was said to be approximately 8.3 times subscribed. Kimly raised approximately S$44 million (US$31.6m) and its market capitalisation at the time of listing was approximately S$290 million (US$208m). Partner Hoon Chi Tern led the transaction.
Rajah & Tann has also acted for Singapore-listed QT Vascular on its capital commitment agreement with GEM Global Yield Fund, a New York-based private alternative investment group, whereby GEM agreed to grant QT Vascular an option to require GEM to subscribe for new shares of the company, for a maximum of 178 million new shares, and for the company to issue to the investor warrants of up to 35 million new shares. Partner Danny Lim led the transaction.
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co has advised Coal India and its subsidiaries on the imposition by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) of a fine of Rs17.73 billion (US$272m) for abusing its dominant position as a supplier of coal. The Competition Appellate Tribunal had set aside the CCI order imposing a fine on Coal India, as well as two related orders, and has remitted the matters back to the CCI for fresh consideration. In its order, the CCI stated that, even though Coal India enjoys operational commercial freedom, its conduct is constrained by directions received from various stakeholders, including Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, CEA etc., all of whom exert influence and are involved in making decisions that impact various aspects of Coal India’s business. Keeping in mind the continuous steps taken by Coal India in resolving issues with stakeholders, the CCI has drastically reduced the penalty amount to Rs5.91 billion (US$90.7m). This is the first time that the CCI has reduced penalty in a case of remand. Regional managing partner Pallavi Shroff, supported by partner Harman Singh Sandhu, led the transaction.
Shearman & Sterling has advised Japan Nuclear Fuel (JNF) on its undertaking to subscribe to a share capital increase of €250 million (US$271.4m) in New Areva Holding, a subsidiary of Areva, consolidating all assets relating to Areva’s nuclear fuel cycle activities. This investment would give JNF an equity stake of five percent in New Areva Holding. Japanese group Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) should also invest €250 million (US$271.4m) alongside JNF. This transaction is part of New Areva Holding’s restructuring plan, which also includes a reserved share capital increase of €2.5 billion (US$2.7b), to be subscribed by the French State. JNF’s investment is subject to the completion of a number of conditions, including customary regulatory conditions. Partners Nicolas Bombrun (Paris-M&A), George Borovas (Tokyo-project development and finance), James Webber (London-antitrust) and Kenneth Lebrun (Tokyo-M&A) led the transaction. The French State was advised by French law firms Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier and Bredin Prat. Areva was advised by Allen & Overy while MHI was represented by McDermott.
Shook Lin & Bok has acted for F&N Treasury on the issuance of S$160 million (US$114.7m) 3.09 percent notes due 2022 (Series Notes 13), which are unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Fraser & Neave, under its S$2 billion (US$1.4b) multicurrency medium term note programme. Partner Marilyn See led the transaction.
Wong & Partners has represented Dubai Islamic Investment Group on the disposal of its 40 percent equity stake in ACR Retakaful Holdings, the holding company of ACR ReTakaful and ACR ReTakaful MEA, alongside Khazanah Nasional’s disposal of its 40 percent equity stake in ACR Holdings, to the Asia Capital Reinsurance group at a total consideration of approximately US$95.8 million. Partner Andre Gan led the transaction, which was completed on February 1, 2017. Allen & Overy advised the buyer while Freshfields advised Khazanah.
