Buyout transaction is the first deal of its kind in the financial services sector in India
Allen & Overy is advising AION Capital Partners Limited, Apollo's India fund in joint venture with ICICI bank, on its acquisition of GE’s commercial lending and leasing businesses in India.  The buying consortium comprises AION as well as former GE Capital executives Pramod Bhasin and Anil Chawla.
 
The Allen & Overy team is being led by private equity M&A partner Karan Dinamani and Sanjeev Dhuna, leveraged finance partner and head of European India group.
 
Karan Dinamani commented: “This is a truly unique PE transaction, not only because of its technical complexity but because of the rarity of PE carve-outs of this scale in the Indian market.”
 
“As a firm, the strength of our global offering (whether it be private equity, debt financing or global regulations which one needs to anticipate when undertaking emerging market transactions) allows us to deliver these types of deals irrespective of jurisdiction” he added.
 
Sanjeev Dhuna also commented: “With our deep understanding of the India market together with our leading leveraged finance and private equity offering, we have been able to advise AION Capital on the first deal of its kind in the financial services sector in India.”
 
The Team
On the M&A side, Karan Dinamani is leading with senior associate Monika Przygoda and associate Jeremy Wilkins, with support from senior associate James Norris and trainee Emily Lang.
 
The finance team advising on the transaction financing is led by partner Sanjeev Dhuna and senior associates Kunal Katre and Jagannath Iyer, assisted by associate Alex Charles.
 
Other members of the A&O team included:
Regulatory: Matthew Townsend, Tom d’Ardenne (UK); Maura Rezendes, Andrea Al-Attar (US)
IP, IT and Data Protection: Jim Ford and Tegan Cohen (UK)
Tax: Tim Harrop (UK)
 
The deal is subject to customary regulatory approvals.
 
A&O has been ranked as the top legal adviser for European private equity buyouts in 2015 by Dealogic M&A Analytics both by deal count and deal volume. Standout deals for A&O include:
 
Exponent Private Equity’s GBP550 million sale of Quorn Foods to the Monde Nissin Corporation
PAI Partners' proposed EUR3 billion joint venture between R&R Ice Cream and Nestlé
Omers Private Equity and AIMCo’s USD1.7bn acquisition of ERM from Charterhouse Capital Partners.