Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co advised Zuari Fertilisers & Chemicals and Zuari Agro Chemicals when it completed its second open offer for Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers (MCFL), which was part of the UB Group. The firm has been advising the Zuari Group over the past year during which Zuari made the two open offers to public shareholders of MCFL.
[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”3″ ihc_mb_template=”2″ ]
Shardul Shroff, executive chairman of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, led the team, which included partner Kalpataru Tripathy, principal associate Abhishek Guha and senior associate Navin Kumar.
Jai Munim, managing partner of Mumbai-based Bachubhai Munim & Co, advised the UB Group. MCFL was advised by its in-house legal team.
When the transaction closed on 18 May, Zuari’s holding in MCFL was 53.03%. In May 2014, Zuari, which was then the third largest shareholder in MCFL, entered into an agreement with the UB Group, to launch a competing offer for the company in response to a hostile open offer by Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation. The first open offer was concluded in October 2014 and Zuari subsequently announced a second open offer for 36.56% of the share capital of MCFL. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) cleared the second takeover bid by Zuari on 26 March this year.
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas advised the Zuari Group in negotiations and drafting of the agreement between the Zuari Group and the UB Group, drafting and reviewing of both rounds of the open offer documents mandated under the Takeover Regulations, intimations to the stock exchanges, public advertisements, drafting and filing of applications to the CCI, reply to queries raised by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and CCI, reply to complaints by MCFL shareholders to SEBI against the proposed open offer, etc.
Partner Shweta Shroff Chopra, principal associate Aparna Mehra, senior associate Vivek Agarwal, and associate Prateek Bhattacharya handled the competition law aspect of the transaction.
[/ihc-hide-content]
