Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas acted as the legal counsel to QBE Insurance Group Limited (QBE) in relation to Paytm's acquisition of Raheja QBE General Insurance Company Limited (Company).
As part of the Transaction, QBE Holdings (AAP) Pty. Limited and QBE Asia Pacific Holdings Limited (collectively, QBE Entities) have entered into definitive agreements to divest their entire shareholding of 49% in the Company to QorQl Private Limited (Buyer), a technology company with majority shareholding of Vijay Shekhar Sharma and remaining held by Paytm (owned by One97 Communications Limited).
The Transaction involves 100% acquisition of the Company by the Buyer, in which balance 51% of the shareholding is proposed to be sold by Prism Johnson Limited, the joint venture partner of the QBE Entities. The Transaction is subject to the approval of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).
The General Corporate team was led by Rishi Gautam, Partner; with support from Neham Tayal, Senior Associate; Abhishek Kalra, Senior Associate; Abhay Singh, Associate; and Aditya Karekatte, Associate.
Other Parties and Advisors to the Transaction included:
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Prism Johnson Limited (JV partner of QBE Entities)
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Trilegal (Legal advisors to Prism Johnson Limited)
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Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (Legal advisors to Paytm/ Buyer)
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EY (Tax advisors to QBE)
The Transaction was signed on July 6, 2020 and is expected to close by March 31, 2021 subject to fulfilment of customary conditions precedent and regulatory approvals.
About Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas takes forward the values going back 103 years, of the erstwhile Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co., whose pre-eminence, experience, and reputation of almost a century has been unparalleled in the Indian legal fraternity. Tracing its professional lineage to 1917, the Firm of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas is now the largest full-service law firm in India, with over 750 lawyers including over 130 partners, and offices in India's key business centres at Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad. The Firm advises a large, and varied client base that includes domestic and foreign commercial enterprises, financial institutions, private equity funds, venture capital funds, start-ups and governmental and regulatory bodies.
The firm, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, was recently awarded with "India - Firm of the Year" at the AsiaLaw Regional Awards 2019 and "India Deal Firm of the Year" at the In-House Community Counsels of the Year Awards 2019. The firm was also named as the "Most Innovative National Law Firm of the Year - India for 2018" at the IFLR Asia Awards, having also been successful in winning the prestigious & coveted "National Law Firm of the Year, 2018 for India" at the Chambers Asia-Pacific Awards. The firm was also voted as the "Employer of Choice for 2018" from India, by the Asian Legal Business, now 4 years in a row, building upon the several awards that the erstwhile Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co. had won in the past.