The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the Vodafone-Idea Cellular merger, which at US$23.2 billion is the largest transaction by value in Indian M&A.
The CCI evaluated the merger holistically and examined the current state of play in the telecom sector, along with factors such as consolidation, new entry, benefits to consumers and efficiencies.
Vodafone was represented by Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, while Idea was represented by Trilegal. The in-house legal team for Idea’s parent company, Aditya Birla Group, was headed by group legal counsel Ashok Gupta and supported by Arun Madhav (Idea), Pankaj Kapdeo (Idea), Shubha Karra (Aditya Birla) and Shirly Thomas (Aditya Birla).
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“The merger, which involved complex economic and competition law issues, was approved by the CCI in its Phase I review itself, without imposing any conditions on the parties,” said Nisha Kaur Uberoi, Trilegal’s partner and national head – competition law.
“We worked with [the in-house legal team] seamlessly, as a single unit. Gupta’s extensive experience across sectors and ability to distil the most complex issues into a simple concept vastly added to this smooth process.”
Uberoi added that the Indian telecom industry had recently witnessed a slew of consolidations upon the entry of Reliance Jio and its near-zero pricing strategy. Consolidations included Reliance’s acquisition of Aircel and Sistema, and Bharti’s acquisition of Telenor and Tikona.
Vodafone India and Idea Cellular announced their merger on 20 March 2017 to create the largest telecom operator in India. As per the agreement, Vodafone will own 45.1% of the combined company upon the transfer of a 4.9% stake to Aditya Birla Group for US$579 million. The Aditya Birla Group will own 26% of the new company. The merger remains subject to approval from the National Company Law Tribunal and telecom regulators.
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