The Venture Intelligence Blog

Revised FDI policy on e-commerce: Ensuring Fair Play? Authors: Madhavan Srivatsan Law Office of Madhavan Srivatsan “ It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive. ”                                                                             ― Earl Warren The recently revised FDI policy on e-commerce as introduced by the Government vide Press note no. 2 of 2018, has introduced new conditions and restrictions upon e-commerce marketplace entities (EMEs). The revised policy was required to be complied by EMEs before 1 st February 2019. There are few interesting changes to be note...

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (Code) was legislated with the intent to resolve the banking crisis The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (Code) was legislated with the intent to resolve the banking crisis that had engulfed the Indian economy. While the Code provides banks and other financial creditors a theoretically faster mechanism to resolve their bad debts, the infrastructural and procedural aspects surrounding the resolution process are leading to delays. The National Company Law Tribunals ( Tribunal ) which are the adjudicating authorities under the Code, are understaffed to deal with the vast number of cases being filed. Faster resolution of debts has further been complicated by frequent amendments to the Code. The jury is still out on whether the Code and related enforcement mechanisms have rendered substantial benefits to the banking industry. However, a welcome beneficiary of the Code has been the domestic and/or foreign vendor supplying goods or rendering ...

AZB & Partners topped the Venture Intelligence League Table for Legal Advisor to M&A Transactions in Q1 2019 . AZB advised M&A deals worth $7.8 Billion (across 15 qualifying deals) . Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas ( SAM , $7.3 Billion across 10 deals) and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM, $4.9 Billion across 13 deals) took the second and third spot. Argus Partners (which advised the GRUH Finance - Bandhan Bank merger ) and L&L Partner (earlier Luthra & Luthra, $2.8 Billion across 4 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. Among large deals in the quarter, AZB and SAM advised the GRUH Finance - Bandhan Bank merger and Brookfield's $1.9 Billion buyout of Pipeline Infrastructure from Reliance Industries . CAM, J Sagar Associates and...

AZB & Partners topped the Venture Intelligence League Table for Legal Advisor to Private Equity Transactions in Q1 2019 . AZB advised PE deals worth $5 Billion (across 24 qualifying deals) during the period . Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) ($3.7 Billion across 15 deals) and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) ($1.8 Billion across 18 deals) took the second and third spot. Khaitan & Co. ($1.6 Billion across 13 deals) and J Sagar Associates (JSA) ($1 Billion across 20 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. AZB and SAM advised Brookfield's $1.9 Billion buyout of Pipeline Infrastructure from Reliance Industries. AZB and CAM advised C arlyle's $678 million investment in SBI Life Insurance. SAM also advised Brookfield's buyout of Hotel...

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion ( DIPP ) has issued Press Note 2 on 26 December 2018 ( Press Note ), which has amended the Consolidated FDI Policy issued on 28 August 2017 ( FDI Policy )  in relation to foreign direct investments in the e-commerce sector. The changes are material and may significantly impact the structure and business models of various e-commerce marketplaces ( E-commerce Marketplace ) which are owned by entities with foreign direct investments ( E-commerce Entity ). EQUITY PARTICIPATION IN SELLERENTITIES The most significant change has been the addition of the stipulation that any entity shall not be permitted to sell its products on an E-commerce Marketplace run by an E-commerce Entity if: - The E-commerce Entity or its group companies 1 have an “equity participation” in such entity; or - The E-commerce Entity or its group companies have control over the inventory of such entity. Our View: A number of e-commerce entities oper...

Ambit Corporate Finance topped the Venture Intelligence League Table for Transaction Advisor to M&A Deals in Q1'19 . Ambit advised M&A deals worth $2.4 Billion (across 4 qualifying deals) during the period . Deloitte ($2.1 Billion across 4 deals) and RBSA Advisors ($1.3 Billion across 2 deals) took the second and third spot. JM Financial (which advised Brookfield's $577 million acquisition of assets from Hotel Leelaventure ) and KPMG ($554 million across 3 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 Ambit was Brookfield's $1.9 Billion buyout of Pipeline Infrastructure from Reliance Industries. It also advised Cube Highways' (a road platform owned by I Squared Capital and IFC) $520 million acquisition o...

Ambit Corporate Finance topped the Venture Intelligence League Table for Transaction Advisors to Private Equity Transactions in the quarter ending March 2019 . Ambit advised PE deals worth $2.5 Billion (across 5 qualifying deals) during the period . JM Financial (which advised Brookfield's buyout of Hotel Leela for $577 million ) and Edelweiss (which advised CDPQ's $250 million investment in ECL Finance ) took the second and third spot. Certus Capital , founded by former KKR executive Ashish Khandelia, ( which advised the $192 million investment by Oaktree Capital in DHFL ) took the fourth place. Axis Capital, Credit Suisse and ICICI Securities (all three of which advised IIFL's $130 million investment in Northern Arc Capital ) 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 ...