iLink Group, its founder, Sreebalaji KS and other members of the founder group have entered into definitive agreements with True North (Hale Vitals LLP), pursuant to which, True North will, by way of both primary and secondary acquisition, invest approximately ₹624.2 crore ($75 million) in iLink, for a minority interest in iLink.

The General Corporate Practice of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised iLink Group and founder Sreebalaji KS on the transaction and setting up of private trust for the promoter group. The transaction team was led Amarta Roy (Partner), Vishwanath Pratap Singh (Partner), Aatmin Shah (Principal Associate), Nikhil Variyar (Senior Associate), Radhika Shukla (Associate), Mishika Ravishankar (Associate) and Aashna Lakhotia (Associate).

The firm's private client practice team lead by Radhika Gaggar (Partner and Co-Head, Private Client Practice), Shaishavi Kadakia (Partner) with support from Radhika Parthasarathy (Associate) assisted the client in relation to estate planning.

Additionally, given the existing group structure, it was considered prudent to create a family trust for the promoter group for estate planning purposes. The firm's private client practice team assisted the client through the process from conceptualization to execution of the trust deed and other key transaction documents relating thereto.

Taft Law acted as International legal counsel for iLink Group for this transaction.

Khaitan & Co acted as Indian legal counsel for True North in this transaction. The firm was involved in advising on all legal aspects of the transaction, including advising on structuring, conducting legal due diligence on the target companies, drafting, negotiating and finalizing various transaction documents, fulfilment of conditions precedent, and closing of the transaction.

The core transaction team consisted of Niren Patel (Partner), Shreya Mukherjee (Partner) and Aman Bagaria (Associate) with assistance from the following:

Restructuring aspects: Mehul Shah (Partner)

Private Client practice aspects: Bijal Ajinkya (Partner), Jimmy Bhatt (Counsel) and Ipshita Bhuwania (Senior Associate)

Structuring of ESOPs: Shabnam Shaikh (Partner) and Anushka Venketram (Associate)

Anti-trust aspects: Anshuman Sakle (Partner) and Alisha Mehra (Senior Associate)

Due diligence on the target companies: Zico Anil Bahl (Associate) and Neil Trivedi (Associate)

Assisting the core transaction team on documentation aspects: Nayantara Kutty (Partner), Ritwik Kulkarni (Principal Associate), Mitra Arabandi (Senior Associate), Priyal Reddy (Associate), Neil Trivedi (Associate) and Niharika Jain (Associate)

Closing of the transaction: Zico Anil Bahl (Associate), Niharika Jain (Associate), Prakruti Shah (Associate) and Abheepsita Purkayastha (Associate)

Foley & Lardner acted as International legal counsel for True North in this transaction.

This investment is intended to fund the future growth prospects of the iLink, which includes significant operations abroad.

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