India

The Paul, Weiss India Practice Group combines broad experience in India with a deep understanding of the global transactional environment. We provide corporate legal services in several areas, including cross-border M&A, joint ventures, private equity, capital markets and investment funds involving Indian businesses. We represent companies and private equity firms doing business in India, as well as a growing number of Indian companies expanding internationally.

Our close relationship with top Indian law firms, built over two decades, assures that our clients’ interests in the region are represented with consistency and vigilance. Additionally, our India Practice Group works out of our firm’s London, New York, and Hong Kong offices, enjoying the full support and resources provided by Paul, Weiss — one of the world’s pre-eminent law firms.

We represent clients in several cutting-edge private equity and joint venture transactions involving real estate developments in the residential and commercial sectors. Our India practice has also been involved in a number of recent sophisticated transactions across a variety of industries, with a special focus on the information technology, telecommunications, business process outsourcing, financial services and real estate sectors.

Our experience in India over the past several years includes the following representations:

Mergers & Acquisitions and Joint Ventures

• Harbinger Capital Partners in connection with the sale of its portfolio company, General Chemical Industrial Products Inc., to Tata Chemicals Limited for more than $1 billion.
• Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. on the U.S. aspects of the sale of its 67% stake in Hutchison Essar Limited, one of India’s largest mobile phone service providers, to Vodafone Group Plc for $11.1 billion.
• Citigroup in connection with its investment in Housing Development Finance Corporation, a leading Indian mortgage lending company, in one of the largest M&A transactions in India in 2006.
• Shaw Wallace & Company, a leading Indian brewery and distillery business, in connection with:
  • the combination of its Indian beer operations with those of SABMiller in a $330 million deal that created the second largest brewery in South Asia;
  • the subsequent sale of its interest in that brewery business to SABMiller for $170 million, giving SABMiller full control of a brewery business that holds a 33% share of the Indian beer market; and
  • the sale of its liquor business to United Spirits, creating South Asia’s largest liquor group.

Private Equity

• General Atlantic LLC in connection with:
  • its $68 million investment in Hexaware Technologies Limited, a Mumbai-based global information technology and business process outsourcing service provider; and
  • its $60 million investment in Jubilant Organosys, a Noida-based pharmaceuticals company.
• General Atlantic LLC and Oak Hill Capital Partners in their acquisition of a majority interest in Genpact, GE’s global business-processing operation. Upon closing, General Atlantic and Oak Hill owned a 60% stake in the company, valued in excess of $800 million.

Capital Markets

• ExlService Holdings, a leading Indian business process outsourcing company, in connection with its $78 million initial public offering and listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
• South Asia Real Estate PLC, a company formed to invest in residential development projects in various Indian cities, in connection with a series of placements that raised $200 million.
• Duet India Hotels Limited, a company formed to develop and own hotels in various Indian cities, in connection with a placement that raised over $100 million.

Investment Funds

• IREO Fund, the first foreign investment fund dedicated solely to Indian real estate, and its affiliated entities in raising approximately $1.5 billion in equity commitments from investors seeking opportunities in the fast-paced economic development on the Indian subcontinent.
• Brahma Management in connection with the formation of various investment funds to invest in India.
• IL&FS Managers Investment Limited in connection with the formation of their private equity fund, Tara India Fund III.

Real Estate

• IREO, a leading foreign investor in Indian real estate, in connection with:
  • joint ventures with Indian developers, including joint ventures for large-scale residential and commercial projects outside Delhi and in Chennai; and
  • its joint venture with private property development fund Ascendas India Development Trust to develop more than four million square feet of mixed-use property, including a Special Economic Zone on a 55-acre site in Coimbatore, India.
• XE Capital Management, LLC in forming a joint venture to develop a one-million-square-foot technology park near Delhi, and in aiding an affiliate of XE in its acquisition of an interest in an India-based development company that plans to construct a residential development on a 25-acre parcel of land in Chennai.

Recognitions

• Paul, Weiss was recognized for involvement in one of India Business Law Journal’s “Deals of the Year” 2008 (Tata Chemicals’ acquisition of General Chemical Industrial Products)
• Awarded Deal of the Year in 2007 by Asian-Counsel and won Best India Deal of the Year 2007 by Finance Asia (Hutchinson’s sale of its stake in Hutchinson Essar to Vodafone)
• In 2008, Paul, Weiss was named “Best IT/Telecom Law Firm” by Asian Legal Business for the eighth time
• Named a 2007 “Firm of the Year” by Asian-Counsel
• Buyouts magazine awarded our clients General Atlantic and Oak Hill Capital its 2004 Emerging Markets Deal of the Year Prize for their acquisition of a 60% stake in Genpact, noting the deal’s “extreme structural complexity” and calling it a “landmark transaction that will likely serve as the gold standard by which future captive BPO carve-outs are measured”
• Selected as one of “America’s Best Corporate Law Firms” in 2008 and 2009 by Corporate Board Member