Trilegal, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM), Latham & Watkins, AZB & Partners, Macfarlanes and Equilex advise on US$1.65 billion Rajasthan Royals acquisition.

The Mittal family and Adar Poonawalla led buyer consortium have entered into a transaction involving the acquisition of interests associated with the Rajasthan Royals franchise structure, including Rajasthan Royals, Barbados Royals and Paarl Royals.

The transaction involved multiple buyer and seller consortium entities, with Indian and international counsel advising on cross-border structuring, diligence, disclosures, transaction documentation and related regulatory matters.

Trilegal is advising the Lakshmi Mittal family in the Mittal-Poonawalla consortium’s proposed USD 1.65 billion acquisition of the Rajasthan Royals IPL franchise. The Mittal family is the lead member of the consortium and will acquire ~75% stake in the franchise.

The Deal Team advising on the mandate is led by Partners Nishant Parikh, Arnav Dayal, and Mitali Halbe and comprises Counsel Niharika Choudhary and Archit Gupta, Senior Associates Averal Sibal and Soham Munshi, and Associates Akshaya Kapoor, Akshat Kabra, and Aryan Grover.

The Direct Tax Team is led by Partner Komal Dani and supported by Senior Associate Ketki Redkar and Associate Shyam Mangukiya.

The Indirect Tax Team is led by Partner Himanshu S. Sinha and comprises Counsel Samyak Jain and Senior Associate Ishabh Verma.

The Intellectual Property Team is led by Partner Kirti Balasubramanian and supported by Associate Rhythm Vijayvargiya.

The Disputes Team is led by Partner Mohit Rohatgi and comprises Senior Associates Samriddhi Shukla and Anuj A.

The White-Collar Crime team is led by Partner Kunal Gupta and supported by Counsel Shrishma Dandekar, Senior Manager Juhi Bahl, Senior Consultant Chandan Dhand, and Senior Associate Gauri Shukla.

The Competition Team is led by Partner Aparna Mehra and comprises Counsel Krithika Ramesh, Senior Associates Ishaan Chakrabarti and Sarthak Mishra.

The TMT Team is led by Partner Jishnu Sanyal and supported by Senior Associate Janak Pradhan and Associate Bevan Pinto.

The Labour and Employment Team is led by Partner Parvathy Tharamel and supported by Associates M Koshy Mathen and Shreya Sharma.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised Adar Poonawalla on the acquisition.

The transaction team was led by Partner Iqbal Khan and Partner Ashid Basheer, with support from Principal Associate Subbalaxmi S, Senior Associate Shefali Murthy, and Associates Gunjan Singh, Raviraj Zinzuvadia, Mallika Bhaskar and Khushi Jaffar.

Partner and Head – Intellectual Property Swati Sharma, with support from Senior Associate Andri Shukla, advised on intellectual property aspects of the transaction.

Partner and Co-Head – White Collar & Investigation Ankoosh K Mehta advised on disputes aspects of the transaction.

Latham & Watkins acted as international legal counsel to the buyer consortium.

AZB & Partners advised Manoj Badale and the seller consortium on the transaction.

Macfarlanes acted as international legal counsel to the seller consortium.

Equilex acted as primary legal counsel to the sellers and target group entities, assisting through all stages of the bidding process, diligence, preparation of the data room, negotiation and finalisation of transaction documents, and disclosure processes for Rajasthan Royals, Barbados Royals and Paarl Royals. The firm worked alongside Macfarlanes, CMS and AZB & Partners in relation to Indian franchise compliance and transaction execution matters.

The Equilex team was led by Managing Partner Deep Roy, with support from Partner Nupur Malde, and team members Jyotí Singh, Disha Mohanty, Aakanksha Rajput, Prerna Khatri and Anuj Lakhotiya.