Khaitan & Co and Bharucha & Partners recently advised on the Blackstone Group’s acquisition of a Rs3 billion (US$64.5 million) stake in logistics company Gateway Rail Freight, a subsidiary of Gateway Distriparks.
Mumbai partner Rabindra Jhunjhunwala and senior associate Ashwin Matthew led the Khaitan & Co team acting for Blackstone. For Bharucha & Partners, co-founding partner Alka Bharucha and senior associate Dipankar Bandyopadhyay advised Gateway Rail Freight.
The deal marks Blackstone’s first journey into the Indian rail freight sector. The private equity house will acquire a stake of up to 49.9% in Gateway Rail Freight, which has become India’s largest private container train and inland container depot operator following the deregulation of the sector by in 2006.
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Gopinath Pillai, chairman of Gateway Distriparks, said in a Blackstone press release, “We are excited about the investment by the Blackstone Group who have expertise in the sector and will be fully involved in developing the company’s strategy. Together, we will strengthen our leadership position and enhance our ability to deliver end-to-end logistics solutions to our clients.”
Akhil Gupta, chairman and managing director of Blackstone Advisors India, said: “Infrastructure development is India’s highest priority for achieving its targeted economic growth and also one of the key investment themes for our investments in India.”
Gateway Rail operates from terminals in Gurgaon near Delhi, Ludhiana in Punjab and Navi Mumbai near JN Port. It operates a fleet of 17 trains and 235 road trailers, is a leader in dedicated refrigerated container train operations and provides end-to-end transportation solutions to exporters, importers and domestic trade.
“The deal was a fairly complex one, but execution smooth,” Jhunjhunwala told India Business Law Journal. “The lawyers played a crucial role in helping the parties achieve signing,” added Jhunjhunwala. “The target was represented by Alka Bharucha and it helped that we had worked together in the past … We now hope that the closing is also achieved quickly”.
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