Mergers and Acquisitions and Strategic Investments

Strategic business opportunities are important milestones for any organisation and are often transformative for a business. Acquisition, mergers, amalgamations, divestment, joint venture or other transformational deals, whether large or small, require experience and efficiency to maximize deal value. At Obhan Mason, we have the multi-disciplinary expertise and know-how to tackle every aspect of an M&A deal, from beginning to end. While we advise large corporations, investment banks and other active participants in the M&A market, we also represent smaller entities that do not regularly engage in such deals, including first time target entities.

We have an experienced team of transactional lawyers who possess a wide range of experiences and perspectives, allowing us to successfully handle most any situation that may arise in a transaction. We advise clients at each stage of the M&A cycle, including:

1. Deal Evaluation: We will help you to assess the feasibility of your proposed transaction, recognising the commercial backdrop, the legal impediments, the wider risk and regulatory considerations. We pride ourselves on keeping abreast with foreign investment trends and the latest market, industry and regulatory developments.
2. Structuring and Diligence: As you move ahead with the deal, the team will assist you with structuring advice and ownership structures. We undertake the required legal due diligences on your business partners or target businesses, focusing on identifying red flags and reporting on areas most relevant to you and advise on applicable law. We work to structure your deal for maximum benefit and impact.
3. Representation before Authorities: Given the highly regulated corporate landscape in India, particularly for cross-border transactions, our team also appears on behalf of our M&A clients before various governmental authorities including the National Company Law Tribunal and the Reserve Bank of India.
4. Contracting and Negotiations: Our core M&A expertise is in drafting and negotiating your deal documentation, including the latest market deal norms. We assist to document the deal and negotiate hard on your behalf. We regularly draw on our broad team of experts, including our technology, employment and labour, data protection, intellectual property, and litigation teams.
5. Onward Support: We also assist with drafting and negotiating contracts required to ensure smooth transitional arrangements following deal closure. The team helps to integrate businesses post-closing (key services, risk and compliance, personnel, technology). We advise and implement any post-completion corporate re-organisation, as required by the nature and scope of the transaction.

Increasingly, M&A deals are cross-border transactions, with different regulatory and legal regimes causing additional complexity. Our team will help you navigate this complexity. With unmatched experience leading on complex cross-border transactions, our M&A lawyers provide practical advice, combining local expertise, deep sectoral knowledge, commercial acumen and refined transactional techniques to maximize deal certainty and achieve the desired value and synergies.

Industry specialization lies at the heart of our practice, enabling us to stay ahead of industry trends in order to better understand our clients’ commercial objectives and offer integrated, practical and tailored legal advice to address deal complexities. Our lawyers endeavour to bring innovation, creativity and commitment to excellence to every deal, regardless of size. Obhan Mason’s M&A practice is known for providing coordinated real-time counsel, whenever needed, including in collaboration with tax advisors and other consultants. In all aspects of our work, we remain true to our core beliefs of doing what is right for clients through a collaborative partnership that delivers results.