Bharucha & Partners

Our Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group is recognised for its innovative handling of high value and complex transactions. The Firm has consistently been engaged on some of the largest mergers & acquisitions deals in India including transactions across jurisdictions.

We advise on all stages of a transaction, commencing with structuring and continuing with post-completion deliverables. We have advised clients on buy and sell side mandates on domestic and cross-border mergers & acquisitions including bespoke transactions and bid processes. We have acted on mandates that span several jurisdictions, our experience covers the full range of mergers & acquisitions across share purchases, joint ventures, dispositions, court and tribunal approved schemes of arrangement, capital reductions, buy-backs, minority squeeze-outs, spin-offs, open offers, and delisting offers.

We advise clients seeking to invest in India as well as Indian clients who are looking at mergers and acquisitions targets outside India. Our clients include listed and unlisted corporates in diverse industries, and our sector experience covers the breadth of the economy and includes banks & financial services, technology, media, telecom, energy, manufacturing, and real estate.

The Firm has been consistently ranked among the top law firms in mergers & acquisitions representations in published professional guides. Our opinion is frequently sought by professional publications.

Indicative Experience

• Advising Idea Cellular Limited with respect to the sale of its stake in Indus Towers Limited to Bharti Infratel Limited, and the merger of Indus Towers Limited with and into Bharti Infratel.
• Advising Mahindra & Mahindra Limited with respect to the demerger of Mahindra’s two-wheeler business into Mahindra & Mahindra Limited.
• Advising Idea Cellular Limited with respect to the merger of the Indian telecom entities of Vodafone Group plc with Idea Cellular Limited.
• Advising IDBI Capital with respect to the merger of IDBI Home Finance Limited with IDBI Bank Limited.
• Advising DCB Bank Limited with respect to its acquisition of the India business of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC consisting of loans, cash credits, bank guarantees, and liabilities such as fixed deposits, current and savings accounts.
• Advising RayBan Sun Optics India Limited, a member of the Luxottica Group Spa, with respect to the reduction of its capital through the cancellation of all shares held by public shareholders.
• Advising UltraTech Cement Limited with respect to its acquisition of the cement business of Century Textiles and Industries Limited.
• Advising HSBC plc with respect to the acquisition of the retail and commercial banking business of the Royal Bank of Scotland in India.
• Advising SMILE Microfinance, a MFI-NBFC with respect to the slump sale of its micro-finance business to Northern Arc Capital Limited.
• Advising General Motors Technical Centre India Private Limited with respect to the transfer of certain assets and over 1,300 employees from General Motors’s Bengaluru technical centre to Tata Consulting Service Limited.
• Advising promoters of Nidhi Granites Limited, a public listed company with respect to sale of a controlling stake and associated open offer.
• Advising Centrum Capital Limited and EbixCash World Money Limited with respect to open offer made to the shareholders of Weizmann Forex Limited in compliance with the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011.
• Advising BAE Systems plc with respect to the establishment of a defence joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra Limited.

Our Dispute Resolution Practice group is exceptionally strong and is reputed for its superior client service, strategic insights, and a formidable presence in proceedings. We are nimble in our advocacy, innovative in our approach, and uncompromising in achieving the solution which best suits our clients.

We advise and represent on all aspects of corporate and commercial law, including contracts, competition and trade practices issues, information technology and communications, media, employment, administrative law, directors’ duties, shareholder claims, class actions, taxation, and other disputes. Accountability, integrity, and transparency are principles that guide us in our dealings within the Firm, our clients, and with dispute resolution bodies.

With over five decades of litigation experience across its Partners, the Firm is considered among the best in the country. Each Partner has a proven track record of handling complex commercial transactions or disputes and each member of the larger team has significant experience in providing powerful representation before courts and tribunals across the country.

Our ability to understand and respond to charges levied in the context of commercial transactions is unparalleled and we successfully leverage transaction and sector-specific skill set across the Firm to defend our clients. We are one of the only law firms that actively engages with mandates relating to economic offences as well as offences against the person and property with minimal reliance on outside counsels. The Partners, senior associates, and associates are well recognised before the courts of law and put the best case forward.

Our engagement with clients often commences while the investigation is progressing and prior to a charge sheet being filed. We help clients provide complete information to investigators and preclude a charge being framed. Should prosecution nonetheless progress, our clients’ defence progresses on a robust foundation.

With offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bengaluru, the Firm has represented clients in over 30 different courts, including the Supreme Court of India and High Courts across the country, as also various specialist tribunals such as the Competition Commission of India, National Company Law Tribunal and Appellate Tribunal, Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal, the National Green Tribunal, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board, the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, and the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. The Firm also has vast experience in handling domestic and international arbitrations.

We have represented businesses in sectors like banking and finance, hotels, telecommunications, real estate, FMCG, power, and oil and gas to name a few. We have provided representation to our clients in disputes relating to, among others, the management and control of companies, employment matters, white-collar crimes, crimes against person and property, arbitration claims, contractual claims, including claims for specific performance, and insurance disputes.

Indicative Experience

• Representing Prysmian Cavi e Sistemi s.r.l. before various fora including the Supreme Court, with respect to the management and control of its joint venture company and successfully enforcing an international award which once and for all settled the law as regards public policy grounds for enforcing an international award.
• Representing Gautam Thapar, Avantha Holdings Limited, and other promoter entities before various fora including Securities and Exchange Board of India, Securities Appellate Tribunal, and National Company Law Tribunal with respect to claims made by CG Power and Industrial Solutions Limited.
• Representing the Godrej Group before various fora with respect to diverse disputes relating to realty development, consumer matters, EPF claims, employee disputes, and white-collar crimes.
• Representing Kalpataru Power Transmission Limited before an arbitral tribunal with respect to construction disputes for refinery and electricity transmission lines.
• Representing JSW Limited against PSL Limited before the Bombay High Court with respect to claims in excess of INR 4,000 million.
• Representing Trafigura Global Services Private Limited before an arbitral tribunal with respect to construction disputes.
• Representing Vodafone Idea Limited before the Supreme Court of India with respect to diverse proceedings, including the 2014 and 2015 spectrum auctions, license conditions, and regulatory challenges including against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

At Bharucha & Partners, we know what it takes to protect, license, and monetise your intellectual property. Our Intellectual Property Practice group is among the best in the country and is recognised for its ability to strategically fend off violations and protect creative expression. Our practice encompasses all facets of intellectual property rights, patents, trademarks, copyright, designs, and trade secrets. In particular, our experience in copyright, trademark, and trade secrets related matters is unparalleled.

We advise and represent clients on all aspects of Intellectual Property including protection and litigation, prosecution, transaction and advisory, enforcement, and management of rights. We work with our experienced Dispute Resolution Practice group to successfully apply for urgent interim injunctions or preliminary discovery. Our significant experience in obtaining Anton Piller as well as John Doe orders from various High Courts in India has ensured that our clients can nip infringements and piracy in the bud.

With our multidisciplinary approach, our clients benefit from the expertise of all our other practice groups to receive tailor-made advice that secures their commercial interests and protects their ideas, creations, and inventions.

Our Intellectual Property Practice advises clients across sectors, ranging from automotive, electronics, FMCG, life sciences, luxury goods, media and entertainment, telecommunications, and pharmaceuticals to technology.

Our lawyers have represented clients on several landmark and first-of-its-kind matters including representing leading FM radio operators concerning the fixing of a compulsory copyright license fee, a first under India’s copyright laws. We were also involved in the first- ever John Doe order being passed by the Delhi High Court in the case of a sports property owner and the landmark ruling of the Supreme Court of India with respect to the liability to pay license fees for underlying musical works and lyrics.

Indicative Experience

• Advising and representing the nodal association and foundation for all leading television broadcasters in the country with respect to matters concerning the intellectual property regime and issues that have an impact on the industry.
• Representing Synergy Media Entertainment Limited before the Supreme Court of India in a landmark ruling with respect to the liability to pay license fees for underlying musical works and lyrics.
• Representing leading private FM radio operators before the Copyright Board, High Courts of Delhi, Bombay, and Madras, and the Supreme Court of India in the first ever case with respect to fixing a compulsory copyright licensee fee by the Copyright Tribunal.
• Advising and representing the Events and Entertainment Management Association with respect to copyright issues pertaining to licensing of music as well as providing on- ground support with the police in various states where live events were hosted.
• Advising and representing Sony Entertainment Television Limited, SunTV Network, and Viacom18 Media Private Limited before the Supreme Court of India and various High Courts of India with respect to distribution, piracy, content regulation and related issues, and providing on-ground support with the police vis-à-vis anti-piracy raids.
• Advising leading telecom companies with respect to India’s first ever case on Standard Essential Patents (SEPs).
• Advising leading broadcasters with respect to the interface of copyright and competition law.
• Advising television broadcasters and FM radio operators as well as leading sports franchisees with respect to allegations of infringement of ‘performers’ rights’ under the Copyright Act, 1957.
• Representing leading artistes in two landmark cases with respect to ‘moral rights’ pertaining to a film and an artistic work.
• Advising celebrity management companies with respect to the right of publicity actions.
• Representing an individual patent owner with respect to patent infringement by multinational software companies.