Deutsche Bank (DB) has restructured its loan to the Lodha Group (Lodha) allowing it to file for an IPO today. Juris Corp's Partners, H.Jayesh, Muzefa Nasikwala and Vandana Sekhri, advised DB with the loan restructuring. O'Melveny & Myers acted as the foreign legal counsels for the DB's Singapore office. Lodha was advised by J.Sagar & Associates.

In 2007, the German bank had subscribed to Rs. 1,640 crore ($ 343 Million) worth of debentures in Cowtown Land Development (Cowtown), a Lodha group company. Default in repayment of the loan would lead to DB owning a 99 percent stake in Cowtown.

Lodha had an uphill task before filing the IPO. First was the shareholder dispute that ended in a settlement last week. Cowtown, DB and Vilas Samant, who allegedly holds 200 shares in Cowtown Land Development, a Lodha group company, reached a settlement ending the long pending dispute. About four years after his father's death, Vilas Samant moved the Company Law Board (CLB) seeking to assert his right over 200 shares held by his father.  The CLB ruled ex-parte, in favour of Vilas Samant and against Duetsche Bank and directed maintenance of status quo in the shareholding of Cowtown.  

DB moved the Bombay High Court challenging the CLB order. Setting aside the CLB verdict, the High Court noted that such petitions ought to be discouraged since they shake the confidence of the investors. DB was represented by Senior Counsels, Janak Dwarkadas and Virag Tulzapurkar in the High Court. Senior Counsel D.D. Madon appeared for Vilas Samant, who was briefed by Dhond, Ayaz Bilawala and Deepali Deshmukh of Bilawala & Co. The Lodhas were represented by Ravi Gandhi of Kanga & Co.

With this settlement, Samant has reportedly agreed to withdraw all cases filed by him, and Cowtown and DB have renegotiated the payment terms. Now, Lodha Developers will not be required to mention the litigation in its prospectus.

After the settlement with DB, Lodha filed their DHRP on Tuesday. Lodha is being advised by Ankit Majumdar of Wadia Ghandy's Bangalore office. The underwriters, on the domestic law are being advised by the Mumbai office of Amarchand with Yash Asher leading the transaction. Linklaters, Singapore, the international counsel advising the underwriters is led by India Group Partner Arun Balasubramanian.