Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. Team Wins Legal Expertise Award At FT Innovative Lawyers Asia-Pacific Awards 2019

The Award recognises the complex and innovative aspects of the transaction involving the insolvency and acquisition of Monnet Ispat & Energy Limited(MIEL) by a consortium comprising of AION, a leading private equity fund focused on investing in India, and JSW Steel Limited, a leading strategic player in the steel industry in India.

The acquisition of MIEL was one of the first acquisitions by a private equity firm in a consortium with a strategic player of a large listed Indian company, under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 (Code). The transaction had a very complex structure involving multiple subscriptions and purchases of listed and unlisted debt and equity instruments, as well as a merger and capital reduction.The deal represents one of the first 12 insolvency cases initiated under the Code and was resolved successfully and creatively, in record time.

An all women partner led Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co team acted for the AION-JSW consortium:

● The Transaction team was led by Ms. Gunjan Shah, Senior Partner and supported by Partner, Ms. Shruti Kanodia.

● The Insolvency and Litigation team on the deal was led by partners Ms. Misha and Ms. Meghna Rajadhyaksha, who represented the consortium before the NCLT and the NCLAT.

● A team led by Competition Partner Ms. Aparna Mehra obtained the Indian competition law approval for the transaction from the Competition Commission of India.

The FT Innovative Lawyers Awards Asia-Pacific celebrates the most innovative legal work from lawyers working in law firms and in-house at companies, across the region. This year's awards cover the legal fraternity operating in Australia,China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam. The Firm was competing with global and large regional Asian firms in the award category.

It is understood that FT received 537 submissions and nominations this year, from 81 law firms and 40 in-house legal teams and conducted interviews with over 400 clients, senior lawyers, executives and experts in a tough competition to arrive at the final Award winners.

We are immensely proud to receive this global honour and raise a toast to the achievement of our lawyers on this prestigious international platform.