Khaitan & Co. advised Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services Limited (“Mahindra Financial Services”) and Mahindra Asset Management Company Private Limited (“Mahindra AMC”) in relation to a 51:49 joint venture of Mahindra Financial Services with Manulife Asset Management Singapore Pte Ltd. (“Manulife Singapore”) in Mahindra AMC. Manulife proposes to invest USD 35 million in Mahindra AMC. Manulife Singapore forms part of the Canada headquartered Manulife Group, which is a global financial services group, providing wealth and asset management, and life insurance services, across Asia, Canada, and the US.

Role of the firm involved transactional advisory to Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services Limited, Mahindra Asset Management Company Private Limited and Mahindra Trustee Company Private Limited on various aspects of the transaction, including share subscription, shareholders governance, SEBI compliance, regulatory aspects, and merger control. A unique feature of the transaction was that the deal marks the entry of the global financial behemoth Manulife into India. The deal has seen one of the highest valuations in relation to a mutual fund’s asset size.

The core transaction team included Siddharth Shah (Partner), Divaspati Singh (Partner), Pavi Jain (Principal Associate) and Rahul Chandramouli (Associate) with assistance from the following:

Competition aspects – Anisha Chand (Partner), Soham Banerjee (Senior Associate) and Rahul Chandramouli (Associate);

Regulatory aspects – Arindam Ghosh (Partner) and Mohit Maheshwari (Senior Associate).