The Venture Intelligence Blog

Case Study: IBC – Essar Steel – Arcelor Mittal Judgment BACKGROUND As recommended by the Oversight Committee, the Reserve Bank of India issued a press release dated June 13, 2017 identifying 12 large stressed accounts (totalling about 25% of the then gross non-performing assets of the banking system in India) for immediate reference under the insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (Code or IBC or IBC Code) , Essar Steel India Limited ( ESIL ) being one of them. Pursuant to the above, the lenders’ of ESIL initiated the corporate insolvency resolution  process  ( CIRP ) for ESIL. As part of the CIRP, the resolution professional invited plans and the committee of creditors ( CoC ) approved the resolution plan submitted by ArcelorMittal India Private Limited ( Arcelor ) (post judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court dated October 4, 2018, reported as Arcelor- Mittal India Private Limited v.  Satish  Kumar Gupta26, and post fulfilment of the conditions mentioned ...

Lessons from 2019 for the Indian Arbitration Regime: A Commercial Viewpoint INTRODUCTION The year 2019 saw a second amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (Act) and a plethora of important judgments6. Against this context, we seek to, analyze a few decisions that have commercial significance for stakeholders. Our objective is not to deal with every decision, but to focus on those with important takeaways for contracting parties. CHECK THAT ARBITRATION AGREEMENT:  APPOINTMENT RIGHTS With the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015, (2015 Amendment  Act), the position regarding eligibility of an arbitrator and the grounds that give rise to justifiable doubts as to an arbitrator’s impartiality and independence became clear with  the  insertion of the Fifth and the Seventh Schedule. Starting with TRF Ltd. v. Energo Engineering Projects Ltd.  the Supreme Court interpreted the amended provisions to state that a person wh...

Tax Litigation: The Saga Continues INTRODUCTION Litigation’, said Ambrose Bierce, ‘is a machine which you go into as a pig and come out of as a sausage’. A look at last year’s Economic Survey will give us a sense of how many pigs are being turned into sausages in India. According to the recent Economic Survey 2019, close to INR 9.46 lakh crores is held up in tax litigation. The Indirect Taxes in India included levy of  Central Excise and Service Tax. The Hon’ble Finance Minister ( FM ) while presenting the  Budget for the Fiscal year 2019-20 in her speech mentioned that currently INR 3.75 lakh crores is blocked in litigations in service tax and excise. The quantum of litigation that is pending in various appellate fora for excise and service tax could be imagined with the above statistic. In order to allow the businesses to unload this baggage and be free from legacy litigations the FM introduced the ‘Sabka Vikas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019’...

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) topped the Venture Intelligence League Table for Legal Advisor to M&A Transactions in 2019. CAM advised M&A deals worth $15.8 Billion (across 46 qualifying deals). Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM, $14.9 Billion across 40 deals) and AZB & Partners ($13.8 Billion across 59 deals) took the second and third spot respectively. Khaitan & Co. ($9.2 Billion across 80 deals) and L&L Partners (earlier Luthra & Luthra, $9.2 Billion across 23 deals) completed the top five. The Venture Intelligence League Tables , the first such initiative exclusively tracking transactions involving India-based companies, are based on value of PE and M&A transactions advised by Transaction and Legal Advisory firms. The 2019 edition saw 100 legal advisors and 82 financial advisors participating. SAM, AZB advised the GRUH Finance - Bandhan Bank merger and Brookfield's buyout of Pipeline Infrastructure from Reliance Industries . L...

FEMA Overhaul and Bifurcation of Debt and Non- Debt Instruments The Finance Act of 2015 had proposed certain amendments to the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (“ FEMA ”). After a long delay, the amendments have finally been notified by the Central Government on October 15, 2019. Pursuant to the notification, the Central Government issued the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 (“ NDI Rules ”) and Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) (Amendment) Rules, 2019 (“ Amendment Rules ”) (collectively referred to as “Rules”) and the RBI issued the Foreign Exchange Management (Debt Instrument) Regulations, 2019 (“ Debt Regulations ”) and the Foreign Exchange Management (Mode of Payment and Reporting of Non-Debt Instruments) Regulations, 2019. The Rules and the Debt Regulations supersede the Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer of Issue of Security by a Person Resident outside India) Regulations, 2017 (“TISPRO”) and the Foreign Exchange M...

AZB & Partners topped the Venture Intelligence League Table for Legal Advisor to Private Equity Transactions  in 2019. AZB advised PE deals worth $16 Billion (across 106 qualifying deals) during the year. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) ($12.5 Billion across 75 deals) and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) ($9.9 Billion across 64 deals) took the second and third spot. Khaitan & Co. ($5.7 Billion across 82 deals) and Trilegal ($3.9 Billion across 34 deals) completed the top five. The Venture Intelligence League Tables , the first such initiative exclusively tracking transactions involving India-based companies, are based on value of PE and M&A transactions advised by Transaction and Legal Advisory firms. The 2019 edition saw 100 legal advisors and 82 financial advisors participating. New entrants to the League Tables include Burgeon Law , Saakshya Law , Pioneer Legal, Joyce Law and many more. Among the top deals, AZB and CAM advised Brookfield's $3.7 Bil...

Arpwood Capital topped the Venture Intelligence League Table for Transaction Advisor to M&A Deals   for the year 2019. Arpwood advised M&A deals worth $4.1 Billion (across 5 qualifying deals) during the period. Ambit Corporate Finance ($3.4 Billion across 6 deals) and Deloitte ($2.9 Billion across 12 deals) took the second and third spot. Ernst & Young ($2.9 Billion across 10 deals) and KPMG ($2.2 Billion across 8 deals) completed the top five. The  Venture Intelligence League Tables , the first such initiative exclusively tracking transactions involving India-based companies, are based on value of PE and M&A transactions advised by Transaction and Legal Advisory firms. The largest deal advised by  Arpwood Capital  was the $3 Billion merger between  GRUH Finance and Bandhan B ank .  Ambit Corporate Finance  advised  Brookfield's $1.9 Billion buyout of Pipeline Infrastructure from Reliance Industries.  Deloit...

Ambit Corporate Finance topped the Venture Intelligence League Table for Transaction Advisor to Private Equity Transactions for the year 2019. Ambit advised PE deals worth $2.4 Billion (across 4 qualifying transactions) during the period. Citi ($1.1 Billion across 2 deals) and  Avendus  ($969 million across 12 deals) took the second and third spot. Edelweiss Financial Services ($758 million across 9 deals) and  PwC  ($708 million across 15 deals) completed the top five in 2019.  The  Venture Intelligence League Tables , the first such initiative exclusively tracking transactions involving India-based companies, are based on value of PE and M&A transactions advised by Financial and Legal Advisory firms. Ambit Corporate Finance advised the $1.9 Billion buyout of Pipeline Infrastructure from Reliance Industries   by Brookfield Asset Management  and the IFC and I Squared Capital-backed   Cube Highways' acquisition of De...