Deal Making in India - What to Expect in 2023?

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Session: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (IST)

 

INTRODUCTION

The past year has been a rocky road for global mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”) activity, mainly due to the aftermath of geopolitical instability caused by the situation in Ukraine, the possibility of recession in USA, Europe and China, sky-rocketing oil prices, inflation rates and the corresponding funding winter stemming from a fear of the impending recession. Multiple industries have witnessed continued shutdowns, layoffs and salary freezes, creating uncertainty amongst stakeholders worldwide. Within the first seven months of 2022, global M&A deal volume fell by 13% as compared with the same period in 2021, along with a corresponding drop in deal value by 32%.

Overall, 2022 witnessed the biggest year-over-year percentage drop in the total global deal value since 2001. Despite such bleak statistics, deal advisers predict that deal momentum will soar in 2023. Interestingly, amidst the uncertainty prevalent within 2022, India witnessed a record total M&A deal value of USD 152 billion. High-value deals such as the HDFC Ltd.-HDFC Bank merger, the Adani-Holcim deal and the announcement of the Vistara-Air India merger by the Tata Group have taken place in 2022. Thus, it is safe to say that the future of inbound M&A activity in India is ripe and will only bolster the country’s economic growth. Pharmaceuticals & healthcare, technology, financial services and infrastructure including renewable energy shall continue to dominate such M&As in India, given the possibility of innovation, potential for scale and increasing dependability on the end products created by key players within these sectors.

Some of the topics that we will be discussing in the webinar shall include:

  • Acquisitive Adani Group;

  • Internalisation of Externalised Structures;

  • Incoming General Elections in 2024 and their impact on M&A;

  • National security and the impact of Press Note 3 of 2020 on M&A;

  • Rising shareholder activism and board governance in India;

  • Enactment of the Foreign Exchange Management (Overseas Investment) Directions, 2022;

  • Growing ESG considerations in M&A;

  • Increasing resort to Warranty & Indemnity Insurance by parties to M&A deals;

  • Data privacy and transfer during M&A;

  • Potential antitrust implications triggered in case of large-size deals;

  • Tax issues in M&A, and the impact of Pillar II tax rules on cross-border M&As; and

  • Acquisition of stressed assets by private equity funds through M&A.

Suggested Readings

  1. Our M&A Hotline on Deal making in India: What to expect in 2023?;

  2. Our M&A Labs analysing the legal, regulatory and tax considerations of the following large M&A deals in India in 2022:

Flow of the session

2:00 – 2:45 PM (IST)

Panel Session

2:45 – 3:00 PM (IST)

Audience Q&A

Speakers

Nishchal Joshipura

Co-Head, M&A & Private Equity (Mumbai, India)

Nishchal Joshipura co-heads the Private Equity and M&A Group at the research and strategy driven international law firm NDA. He is a Lawyer, Chartered Accountant and an MBA (Finance). He has 19 years of work experience in advising several high profile Private Equity and M&A clients on cross border deals and investments from a strategic, legal and tax perspective. His deal structures have been consistently recognized as most innovative by the Financial Times of London. He has also helped set up multiple offshore and domestic India focussed funds and advises Pension Funds and Sovereign Wealth Funds on cross border deals in listed and unlisted space. He is the partner-in-charge of the Fund Formation Group at NDA.

 

Harshita Srivastava

Co-Head, M&A (Mumbai, India)

Harshita Srivastava is a core member of the Private Equity and M&A Group at NDA. With her specialization in public offerings, mergers and strategic acquisitions, she focuses on complex cross border and domestic private equity transactions. She advises major funds and global corporations on overseas investments and in formulating and implementing structures from a legal, tax and regulatory perspective. She also has extensive experience in handling business transfers (both slump sale and asset sale) and court approved mergers/ demergers, along with strategic business takeovers. She also heads the Warranty & Indemnity Insurance Practice Group at NDA and has been involved in advising international insurance companies in the legal underwriting process for large India-focused deals.

 

Afaan Arshad

Leader, International Tax (Mumbai, India)

Afaan Arshad is member of the International Tax Group at NDA. He has obtained a bachelor’s degree in law from School of Law, Christ University Bangalore. He specializes in a vast array of issues within the domain of international tax advisory and litigation. Some areas of focus include tax treaty law, indirect transfer tax, Indian GAAR, transfer pricing, cross border transactions, tax indemnities, digital taxation etc. He is also a member of the Warranty & Indemnity Insurance Practice Group at NDA that assists insurance companies with their legal underwriting for India-focused transactions.

 

Parina Muchhala

Member, M&A and Private Equity (Mumbai, India)

Parina Muchhala is a member of the Private Equity and M&A Group at NDA. She has been actively involved in assisting numerous clients to undertake cross border investments into India. She is also a member of the Warranty & Indemnity Insurance Practice Group at NDA that assists insurance companies with their legal underwriting for India-focused transactions. She regularly contributes to national and international publications, writing on topics related to Indian corporate law, competition law and insolvency law.