Milbank has been active in India for more than twenty years, where we have focused on assisting clients in complex and ground-breaking major transactions, and have been recognized as one of the leading international law firms by the India Business Law Journal and other legal publications.
Since India is a dynamic and extraordinary market with diverse legal needs, our efforts have been concentrated on assisting many of the larger Indian companies with their most significant cross-border legal needs, whether in capital raising, acquisitions or litigation and arbitration.
Depth of experience
For example, we recently represented Bharti Airtel in its $8.3 billion dollar and rupee financing for its $10.7 billion acquisition of the Zain Group’s operations in 15 African countries. In the capital markets area, we have been active in several major international equity and debt offerings involving Indian issuers ranging from Tata Steel’s $770 million equity offering to Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation Limited’s $120 million global offering of Floating Rate Notes.
Milbank has a strong track record in Indian telecom transactions where we continue to serve our long-standing clients in a variety of transactions. In 2010, our telecom practice was involved in several award-wining transactions, including "Asian Telecom Deal of the Year" (awarded by the Telecom Finance magazine) and "Indian Communications Deal of the Year 2010" (awarded by the Project Finance magazine).
Milbank’s Power, Energy & Utilities Group continues to be active in Indian transactions and has been involved in a wide variety of transactions ranging from representation of lenders in connection with $2.5 billion refinancing of Reliance Petroleum’s loans following its merger with Reliance Industries to representation of Oman Oil Company in the negotiation of an oil pipeline for the construction of a submarine pipeline to transport one or two million cubic feet of natural gas per day from Oman to India.
In the last decade, we have experienced steady growth in our India M&A practice. We have extensive experience in representing Indian companies acquiring assets outside India. Most recently, our London office recently represented Sahara Group in its $726 million acquisition from the Royal Bank of Scotland of the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. In addition, our lawyers have represented foreign investors ranging from financial investors (including TPG Capital, Credit Suisse International and Chase Capital Partners) to non-Indian corporations (including Kyushu Electric Power Company and Telekom Malaysia Berhad) in joint ventures, PIPEs and buy-outs involving Indian targets.
Global Integrated approach
Our extensive experience in handling Indian matters has given our attorneys substantial knowledge of the law and practice of doing business in India. We have a dedicated team of India experts based in North America (New York and Washington, DC), Europe (London) and Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo), which work closely with their colleagues in other offices worldwide.
Foreign law firms are not authorized to have an office in India. We, therefore, work closely with local law firms to provide seamless service to our clients and have developed strong ties with leading local law firms in Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi. In addition, our lawyers have close relations with leading business groups and government officials in India.