Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, AZB, Khaitan act on Adani's acquisition of Holcim India assets for $10.5 billion

Gautam Adani has won the race to acquire Swiss cement major Holcim's stake in Ambuja Cements and its subsidiary ACC for $10.5 bn (approximately around Rs 81,361 crore), including the open offers.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised Adani Group and the team was led by Managing Partner Cyril Shroff along with Partners Paridhi Adani and Anchal Dhir.

Partner Subhalakshmi Naskar advised on the financing aspect while Partner Avaantika Kakkar is advising on competition law.

Commenting on this big ticket transaction, Cyril Shroff said,

"It was an honour to lead this unique transaction. These deal sizes and complexities are a sign of things to come for big-ticket M&A”.

"It was a huge team effort with many lawyers across CAM contributing".

AZB & Partners advised Holcim, Ambuja and ACC and the team was led by Senior Partner Ashwath Rau along with Partners Kashish Bhatia and Jasmin Karkhanis and Associates Aditi Shukla, Vardhit Singhania and Shubhangi Tewari.

Commenting on the transaction, Ashwath Rau said,

“Holcim have been a long standing client and it was a privilege working with them on this marquee transaction. My thanks to all our lawyers who did a fantastic job on this deal.”

AZB Partners Samir Gandhi and Bharat Budholia advised on competition law aspect while and Partner Aditya Chandel advised on tax issues.

Khaitan & Co advised JSW, another bidder for Ambuja – ACC.

Khaitan partners Haigreve Khaitan, Kartick Maheshwari, Abhishek Dadoo and Vidushi Gupta advised on corporate and takeover related aspects.

Executive Director Hiten Kotak advised on tax law aspects.

Partner Anisha Chand advised on competition law aspects.

Holcim owns 63.19 per cent in Ambuja Cement and 4.48 per cent in ACC. Ambuja Cement, in turn, owns 50.05 per cent in ACC. The Adani family will make an open offer to buy 26 per cent in these two companies from non-promoter shareholders.

The buyout will catapult Adani group to the second-largest player in India’s cement industry, which has an installed capacity of around 500 million tonnes. UltraTech with 120 million tonnes per annum will remain the largest by a distance, reported Business Today.

Other bidders for ACC - Ambuja were Aditya Birla controlled Ultratech, who were being advised by Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas on the corporate law aspect and Nisha Kaur Uberoi, Partner & Competition Head at Trilegal advised in competition law aspect.

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