Private Equity/Venture Capital Investments
We began our journey as a law firm focused primarily on best-in-class private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) work! While we have since added several other practice areas of excellence to our armoury, our top-of-the-line work on PE/VC investments continues to be one of the key engines of our growth.
Our highly regarded PE/VC practice has provided counsel to some of the largest and market defining transactions in India. We provide end-to-end transactional support through the various stages of a transaction starting with drafting of term-sheet, structuring of the investment, conducting legal due–diligence, negotiating deal terms, documentation, and closing, and through to exits at a later stage.
We regularly advise reputable global and Indian private equity and venture capital funds with respect to their Indian investments. We also have proven track record of acting as the lead counsel in global, multi-jurisdictional transactions in collaboration with law firms in the relevant jurisdictions. In addition, we regularly represent Indian companies that are seeking to raise funds from private equity and venture capital funds.
We have rich experience advising on transactions in most of the industry sectors, including certain cutting-edge and niche sectors such as cryptocurrency, payment systems, P2P lending platforms, blockchain-based SaaS businesses, gambling, and e-commerce, among others. Our domain expertise and market awareness enables us to support our clients beyond the breadth of a transaction, and we are often called upon to advise on business strategies and market trends, and identifying potential investee companies.
Our PE/VC practice is consistently recognised and rated highly by leading publications like Chambers and Legal 500.
Some of the significant private equity transactions that we were involved in include:
Acted as the global counsel to Basil Partners in complex stapled secondary transaction involving the formation of a USD 175 million fund anchored by Committed Advisors and NewQuest Capital, and consequent purchase by the fund of private equity assets of another private equity fund in 6 companies based across the world.
Represented HarbourVest Partners and Axiom in their purchase, through a secondary spin-out, of all the Asian private equity assets of Credit Suisse, which portfolio was then placed under the management of Asia Growth Capital Advisors. This transaction is widely believed to be the first “stapled secondary” spin-out transaction involving Indian private equity assets.
Represented a consortium comprising of The Carlyle Group and Advent International in connection with their USD 1.5 billion bid for Patni Computer Systems, a leading Indian listed company in the IT/BPO space.
Represented an investor consortium comprising of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, General Atlantic, Goldman Sachs, Norwest Venture Partners, Everstone Capital, and Ashmore on the consortium’s investment of USD 425 million into Asian Genco Pte. Ltd., an infrastructure company with diversified assets in power generation and engineering services.
Represented Verlinvest, Mousse Partners, Saama Capital, and certain other investors in connection with their USD 68 million secondary purchase of shares in Sula Vineyards Private Limited, the largest manufacturer of wines in India.
Some prominent venture capital transactions that we have acted on are:
Represented the leading bitcoin mining and trading company in India in relation to the first foreign investment transaction in the virtual currency space in India.
Represented Verlinvest and DSG Consumer Partners in connection with their multiple rounds of investment into Drums Food International Private Limited, a company engaged in the manufacture and retailing of premium ice creams and dairy products.
Represented Norwest Venture Partners in connection with its USD 10.5 million investment in Snowman Logistics Limited, a company engaged in the business of temperature control logistics.
Represented Pinnacle Engines, Inc., a game-changing US-based company focused on developing fuel-efficient, clean/green engines on a sustainable model, on its multiple fundraising rounds from NEA, Bessemer Venture Partners, and VenturEast, among others.
Represented Saama Capital and Pravega Ventures in connection with their USD 5.2 million investment in the pre-Series A and Series A rounds of fund raising by Datasigns Technologies Private Limited, a start-up engaged in the development of a mobile application called Shubh Loans.