Jeeta Nayak

Jeeta has over 13 years of cross-jurisdictional experience across varied industries and specialises in both private as well as listed M&A and Private Equity transactions.

Jeeta specialises in strategic investments/ divestments spanning a broad range of industries including e-commerce, IT/ IT-enabled services, non-banking financial services, insurance, etc., and has advised marquee private equity investors as well as renowned promoter groups and companies across jurisdictions including India, U.S., Canada, Europe (UK, France and Germany), Singapore and Japan.

Relevant Experience

• Advising Ambuja Cements Limited (Ambuja) in its acquisition of up to 56.74%of the shareholding of Sanghi Industries Limited from members of its promoter/ promoter group at an enterprise value of INR 5,000 Crore, and the open offer, triggered under the SEBI (SAST) Regulations, 2011.
• Advised Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) on its joint venture, in the mixed-use real-estate construction and development sector, with the RMZ group to develop and hold commercial office space in Chennai and Hyderabad. The transaction involved an investment of INR 1,500 Crore by CPPIB for a 50% shareholding in certain RMZ group entities.
• Advised CPPIB on its joint venture, in the mixed-use real-estate construction and development sector, with The Phoenix Mills Limited (PML) for construction and development of a mixed-use retail led mall property in Kolkata, India. The transaction involves an investment of INR 384 Crore by CPPIB for a 49% shareholding in a PML group company.
• Advised Adani Gas Limited (Adani Gas) on the joint venture between the Adani group and Total Holdings SAS (Total), through a combination of an open offer for up to 25.2% and a secondary purchase for the balance 12.2% from the promoter group. The transaction involved an investment of ~INR 61.55 Billion by Total for a 37.4% shareholding in Adani Gas.
• Advised GIC on its joint venture with ESR Cayman Limited (ESR Cayman) involving an initial investment by GIC of USD 750 Million in the offshore joint venture platform for developing and acquiring industrial and logistics assets in India and acquiring a 2.2 million square feet seed asset in India (pursuant to the indirect investment in the existing Indian joint venture of ESR Cayman with Macrotech Developers Limited – a Lodha group company).
• Advised Vista Equity Partners on their global acquisition of Accelya TopCo Limited (a leading global software provider to the airline industry) (Accelya) for approximately USD 800 Million from Warburg Pincus, which, inter alia, entailed the indirect acquisition of Accelya’s listed Indian subsidiary, viz., Accelya Solutions India Limited, triggering an open offer in India. Also advised on the open offer.
• Advised Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) in its acquisition of a 40% equity stake in CLP India Private Limited, for a consideration of INR 26.4 Billion, from CLP GPEC (Mauritius) Holdings Limited (listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange).
• Advised and represented Tenneco Inc. before the Securities Appellate Tribunal, in its appeal against the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), challenging the stipulation of the offer price by SEBI for the mandatory tender offer launched by Tenneco for the shares of Federal Mogul Goetze (India) Limited.
• Advised Fortis Healthcare Limited on the acquisition of securities of the Indian entities of RHT Health Trust Manager Pte. Ltd., acting in its capacity as trustee-manager of RHT Health Trust, a registered business trust listed on the Main Board of the Singapore Exchange holding clinical establishments and businesses in India.
• Advised Qube Cinema Technologies Private Limited (a leading digital cinema distribution and in-cinema advertising platform in the South Indian market) and its promoters in a multi-layered composite scheme of merger with UFO Moviez India Limited (a listed company and a leading digital cinema distribution and in-cinema advertising platform in the North India market).
• Advised The Kraft Heinz Company on their 100% equity stake sale of Heinz India Private Limited to Zydus Wellness Limited (Zydus) jointly with Cadilla Heathcare Limited. Pursuant to the transaction, the Complan, Nycil, Glucon-D and Sampriti Ghee brands were transferred to Zydus.
• Advised a private equity fund, in their investment in a leading tech-enabled provider of digital first modern clinics providing pet healthcare services in India.
• Advised on a composite scheme of arrangement for restructuring the holding structure of Pepperfry Private Limited (a leading player in the e-commerce space in India) and its offshore group companies incorporated in three different jurisdictions, in preparation for listing.
• Advised Temasek and the promoters of Medreich Limited in connection with their sale of 100% stake in the company and its subsidiaries to Meiji Seika Pharma Co. Ltd., Japan, the pharmaceutical arm of Meiji Holdings Co. Ltd.
• Advised Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Limited on their preferential allotment of equity shares on a private placement basis under Chapter VII of the SEBI ICDR Regulations, 2009 to Aranda Investments (Mauritius) Pte Ltd., a sub-account of an FII registered with the SEBI and a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Temasek.
• Advised JP Morgan in the block trade of the shares of Jubilant Life Sciences Limited by its promoters.
• Advised Bank of Baroda (significant and continuing shareholder of IndiaFirst) in the transaction involving a 26% stake sale by Legal & General Group Plc in IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Limited to Warburg Pincus LLC.
• Advised CavinKare and its promoters in their buyout of ChrysCapital’s stake in CavinKare Private Limited.
• Advised Bandai Namco Games, Japan’s leading gaming and entertainment franchise, in connection with their maiden venture into India. Advised on structuring their entry strategy and setting up a Family Entertainment Zone in Mumbai, India.
• Advised Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited on possible transaction structures for implementing a consortium project with Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited for laying a 2800 km Kandla-Gorakhpur LPG pipeline between import locations in Gujarat to LPG markets in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
• Advised The Hershey Company on their acquisition of the 49% shareholding held by the Godrej Group in Godrej Hershey Limited and its wholly owned subsidiary, viz., Nutrine Confectionary Company Limited.
• Advised Wockhardt Limited in the slump sale of its nutrition business and brands such as Farex and Protinex, to Danone for approximately INR 15.76 Billion.
• Advised Sanlam Emerging Markets (Mauritius) Limited, subsidiary of Sanlam Limited, a JSE listed South African financial services company, in connection with its investment in Shriram General Insurance Company Limited and Shriram Life Insurance Company Limited.

Experience listed below is that of the Partner before she joined the Firm.

• Advised Omnesys Technologies, Inc. and its Indian subsidiary on the acquisition of the Next Generation Electronic Securities Trading (NEST business) software platform and services, which provides tools for securities trading, customizable for institutional and retail brokers, proprietary trading desks and exchanges in India, from Refinitiv India Private Limited, a member of the London Stock Exchange group.
• Advised a Company, engaged in the manufacture and sale of herbal and ayurvedic cosmetics, and its existing investors, in a potential investment by a new investor in the Company.
• Advised a Company, which owns and operates various multi-specialty hospitals in North India, and its existing promoters in a transaction involving 100% or majority exit by the existing promoters of the Company.
• Advised ICICI Bank Limited in project financing a 1200 MW power project of Essar Power (Jharkhand) Limited. The project finance included the grant of a rupee term loan facility, a letter of credit facility and a bank guarantee facility.

Memberships

• Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa

Awards & Recognition:

• Recognised by the Legal 500 in their Asia Pacific 2023 ranking