Allen & Gledhill has advised the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on the issue of S$700 million (US$521.6m) fixed rates notes due 2031, under its S$32 billion (US$23.8b) multicurrency medium term note programme. Partners Margaret Chin and Sunit Chhabra led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Allen & Gledhill has also advised Gateway Partners on leading the US$32 million pre-Series B financing round of UNOAsia, the parent company of Uno Digital Bank in the Philippines. Gateway Partners is an emerging markets manager investing responsibly across the fast-growing markets of Africa, Middle East, South and Southeast Asia. One of six digital bank licence holders in the Philippines, Uno Digital Bank offers savings, transactions, investment products and insurance services to the growing bankable population in the Philippines. Partners Julian Ho and Jonathan Choo led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Moreover, Allen & Gledhill has advised Openspace Ventures, a leading Southeast Asian venture capital firm, on its investment in the US$10 million series seed financing round of LXA, a Singapore-headquartered fintech company geared towards matching institutional capital pools and residential mortgage borrowers. LXA is targeting the mortgage ecosystem in Asia, and its platform aims to utilise end-to-end technology to streamline the entire mortgage lifecycle, from loan origination and borrower processing to loan servicing. Partners Julian Ho and Adrian Ang led the firm’s team in the transaction.
AZB & Partners has advised Hyatt Hotels and its affiliates, including one of the promoters of Juniper Hotels, and Two Seas Holdings on the IPO via a fresh issuance of 50 million equity shares by Juniper Hotels aggregating to Rs18 billion (US$217m). The prospectus was filed with the Registrar of Companies on February 23, 2024, while the equity shares commences trading in the stock exchanges on February 28, 2024. Partners Vaidhyanadhan Iyer, Lionel D’Almeida and Jeet Chaudhuri led the firm’s team in the transaction.
AZB & Partners is also advising Sterlite Power Transmission on the Rs75 billion (US$904m) acquisition by GIC Infra Holdings affiliates Stretford End Investment and Anahera Investment of 51 percent stake of Sterlite Power Transmission. Partners Zia Mody, Ashwath Rau and Atreya Bhattacharya are leading the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on October 12, 2023 and is yet to be completed.
Moreover, AZB & Partners has advised Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) on its acquisition of 25.1 percent of equity stake in SMFG India Credit Company from Angelica Investments (Temasek). Partners Nilanjana Singh and Aditya Singh Chandel led the firm’s team in the transaction, which was completed on March 7, 2024.
Baker McKenzie has represented Cambium Grove Capital (CGC), an Asia-based asset management platform that invests in real estate, alternative credit, private equity and special situation opportunities, on the structuring, formation and successful closing of an investment vehicle relating to the acquisition of a commercial property in Tokyo, Japan. Hong Kong private capital specialist Edwin Wong led the firm’s team in the transaction, which continues CGC’s Japan value-add real estate investment strategy.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has advised National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARC) and India Debt Resolution Company (IDRC) on their consolidated resolution plan for SREI Infrastructure Finance (SIF) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Srei Equipment Finance (SEF), which are undergoing corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) under the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016, as amended. SIF and SEF are both systemically important non-deposit taking, non-banking financial companies. Partner Dhananjay Kumar, supported by partners Surya Sreenivasan, Raunak Dhillon, Bharath Reddy and Vijay Pratap Singh Chauhan, under the supervision of banking and finance co-head partner Amey Pathak, led the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on January 23, 2023 and closed on December 8, 2023.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has also advised NDR InvIT Trust and NDR Ware Housing, as the sponsor of the Trust, on the initial offer via private placement of units of the Trust, aggregating to approximately Rs8.8 billion (US$106m). The offer comprised a fresh issue aggregating to approximately Rs7 billion (US$84m) and an offer for sale aggregating to approximately Rs1.86 billion (US$22.4m) by the selling unitholders. Partners Yash Ashar (capital markets head) and Kranti Mohan (REITs and InvITs head), Janhavi Manohar, supported by partners Kota Chandan, Ashish Jain, Abhilash Pillai, Rishiraj Bhat, led the firm’s team in the transaction, which closed on February 14, 2024. ICICI Securities acted as the lead manager to the offer, and Axis Trustee Services acted as the trustee of the Trust. Linklaters Singapore acted as international counsel to ICICI Securities.
JSA has advised HDFC Bank, India’s largest private sector bank, on the issue of the twin tranche dollar bonds issue of US$750 million Senior Notes under the US$3 billion Medium Term Note Programme by HDFC Bank, comprising of the issue of US$450 million Senior Notes and the issue of US$300 million Senior Notes. The Senior Notes tranche of US$300 million out of overall US$750 million is HDFC Bank’s debut sustainable finance dollar-denominated bond issue. Partner Dina Wadia, supported by partner Uttara Kolhatkar, led the firm’s team in the transaction, which had the tightest credit spreads achieved by an Indian issuer for a sustainable finance bond and senior unsecured bond for a similar size of US$ Regulation S issuance.
JSA has also advised ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, HDFC Bank and IIFL Securities on the IPO of units of infrastructure investment trust Bharat Highways InvIT, comprising an issuance of units aggregating to Rs25 billion ((US$301). As part of the transaction, the InvIT has also acquired seven road assets, operating on a hybrid annuity model, from G R Infraprojects. Bharat Highways InvIT is only the fourth publicly listed InvIT, the first one since 2021, and is the most subscribed public InvIT. This was also the first InvIT in India allowing non-institutional investors to use UPI mechanism for bidding in the issue. Partner Arka Mookerjee, supported by partner Pracheta Bhattacharya,led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co has advised Reliance Industries and Viacom 18 on the strategic joint venture with Disney, combining the businesses of Viacom18 and Star India, including an investment of Rs115 billion (US$1.39b) by Reliance Industries. The joint venture will seek to lead the digital transformation of the media and entertainment industry in India, and offer consumers high-quality and comprehensive content offerings. Managing partner Pallavi Shroff and partners Iqbal Khan, Puja Sondhi, Shivangi Sharma Talwar and Shashank Mishra, supported by partners Shweta Shroff Chopra, Harman Singh Sandhu, Aman Singh Sethi, Vaibhav Singh, Rohit Bajaj, Kriti Kaushik, Ashish Teni, Mukul Baveja and Shahana Chatterji, led the firm’s team in the transaction, which was valued at US$8.5 billion.
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co has also advised Axis Capital, Intensive Fiscal Services and JM Financial, as the book-running lead managers, on the IPO of equity shares of Gopal Snacks. The IPO had an overall demand of over nine times the deal size, and the qualified institutional buyers component had over 17 times demand. A fast-moving consumer goods company in India, Gopal Snacks offers ethnic snacks, western snacks and other products under the brand ‘Gopal’, and has a footprint across India. Partners Prashant Gupta (national capital markets practice head) and Ruth Chenchiah led the firm’s team in the transaction, which is valued at approximately US$78 million.
Moreover, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co has advised British American Tobacco (BAT) on the strategic divestment of approximately 3.5 percent stake held by Tobacco Manufacturers (India), a wholly-owned subsidiary of BAT, in ITC. BAT intends to use the net proceeds to commence its share buyback programme, starting with £700 million (US$888m) in 2024. Bank of America Securities India and Citibank acted as the authorized dealer banks for the repatriation of the proceeds to BAT. Partners Mithun V Thanks, Manjari Tyagi and Kaustubh Verma led the firm’s team in the transaction, which is valued at approximately US$ 2.1 billion, making it one of the largest trades on the Indian stock exchanges. Herbert Smith Freehills London, led by partner Alex Kay, and Appleby (Isle of Man) advised BAT on the governance, corporate aspects and the capacity and authority of Tobacco Manufacturers (India) to undertake the divestment. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised Bank of America Securities India and Citigroup Global Markets India, while Ashurst also advised Bank of America Securities India on certain overseas aspects of the block trade.
Skadden is advising Dai-ichi Life Holdings on its agreement to acquire a 19.9 percent strategic minority stake in the Canyon Partners business. Under the terms of the agreement, Dai-ichi has the right to acquire up to 51 percent of the equity interest in Canyon in 2027, and up to 100 percent in 2029. Partners David Hepp (New York-M&A/financial institutions), Matthew Collin (New York-M&A/financial institutions), Akira Kumaki (M&A-Tokyo), Mitsuhiro Kamiya (M&A-Tokyo), Gavin White (New York-tax), Heather Cruz (New York-investment management), James Stringellow (New York-capital markets) and Joseph Penko (executive compensation and benefits), led the firm’s team in the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, including certain regulatory consents, which are expected to be satisfied over the coming months.
S&R Associates has represented the broker on the Rs28.27 billion (US$341m) bulk deal sale by Antfin Singapore Holding on the Indian stock exchanges of 176.3 million equity shares of Zomato, a listed company operating a food delivery app. Partner Sudip Mahapatra led the firm’s team in the transaction.
S&R Associates has also successfully represented Capricorn UK Holdings (formerly Cairn UK Holdings), a subsidiary of Capricorn Energy (formerly Cairn Energy), before the Securities & Exchange Board of India and in prior related proceedings before the Securities Appellate Tribunal and the Supreme Court of India. In a recent order, the SEBI held that listed natural resources and technology conglomerate Vedanta violated provisions of the Companies Act 2013 and SEBI’s Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements Regulations by failing to make dividend payments in a timely manner to Capricorn UK Holdings. Accordingly, SEBI has, inter alia, directed Vedanta to pay interest of Rs776.2 million (US$9.34m) to Capricorn UK Holdings. Partners Niti Dixit, Shahezad Kazi and Abhishek Tewari led the firm’s team in the matter. Capricorn UK Holdings was also advised by partner Uday Walia of Touchstone Partners in this matter.
Trilegal has advised Jefferies India, as placement agent, on the Rs5.93 billion (US$71m) sale via the stock exchange of approximately five million equity shares of Macrotech Developers held by Sambhavnath Infrabuild and Farms. Capital markets partners Bhakta Patnaik and Albin Thomas led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Trilegal has also acted as the sole advisor to UltraTech Cement on securing an unconditional approval from the Competition Commission of India pertaining to the proposed acquisition of the cement business of Kesoram Industries. The proposed acquisition will provide UltraTech the opportunity to extend its footprint in the highly fragmented, competitive and fast-growing Western and Southern markets in the country. This was an acquirer only filing made by UltraTech. The proposed acquisition was notified with the CCI as a long form (Form II) merger notification on January 25, 2024, and was approved by the CCI on March 19, 2024. Competition law national head partner Nisha Kaur Uberoi led the firm’s team in the matter.
TT&A has advised the Japan International Cooperation Agency on its loan facility, via an external commercial borrowing, of up to US$125 million to L&T Finance Holdings. The proceeds of the loan will be used by L&T to finance the women borrowers for rural group loans and micro finance loans to farmers for new farm equipment purchases and loan facilities, to individuals for new two-wheeler purchases (including electric two-wheelers), and to individuals who are self-employed professionals for MSME loans. Partners Gautam Saha and Ambarish Mohanty led the firm’s team in the transaction.
WongPartnership has acted for Openspace Ventures on its investment into the US$15 million Series B funding round of Rukita, an Indonesia-based proptech group. Partner Kyle Lee led the firm’s team in the transaction.
