Author: editor

Luthra and Luthra advises Sembcorp in relation to supply of WTG and development of a 180.6 MW wind power project in Karnataka

Luthra and Luthra recently assisted Sembcorp (and its renewables subsidiary Green Infra Wind Energy Limited) in relation to finalising and executing equipment supply and project development agreements with Suzlon Group for (i) supply of 86 Wind Turbine Generators (WTGs) with a Hybrid Lattice Tubular (HLT) tower and a rated capacity of 2.1 MW each, (ii) execution of the project (including erection and commissioning) in relation to a 180.6 MW wind power project for Sembcorp’s, to be located at Kanakagiribad, Bagalkot in Karnataka. Suzlon will also provide comprehensive operation and maintenance services after the commissioning of the project.   

The transaction was led by Partner, Mr. Avirup Nag and ably assisted by Associates,  Ishita Gupta and Asima Ghosh. 

Yulu raises $82 million from Canada’s Magna for fleet expansion, battery network

IndusLaw advised and represented Yulu Bikes on this deal. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas were the Counsel for Magna International Inc. and Magna MetalForming GMBH and, Talwar Thakore & Associates were the Counsel for Bajaj Auto Limited

IndusLaw team comprised of –

Transaction Team: Kartik Ganapathy (Senior Partner), Faraz Khan (Partner) and Aditi Rani (Senior Associate)
IP Team: Bharadwaj Jaishankar (Partner), Meetali Agarwal (Senior Associate) and Sana Singh (Associate)
Tax Team: Shashi Mathews (Partner), Shruti KP (Principal Associate), and Abhishek Boob (Senior Associate)
Litigation Team: P Chinnappa (Partner) and Tejas Shetty (Associate)

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas were the Counsel for Magna International Inc. and Magna MetalForming GMBH and Talwar Thakore & Associates were the Counsel for Bajaj Auto Limited

Yulu Bikes, which offers small electric two-wheelers on rent, on Monday said it has raised $82 million (about Rs 653 crore) from investors led by Canada’s Magna to drive its expansion plan.

Existing investors, including Bajaj Auto, also participated in the funding round, which saw automotive parts major Magna pump in $77 million.

Amit Gupta, cofounder of Bengaluru-based Yulu, told ET that the funds will be used for deploying more bikes and for setting up a battery-swapping network in the country in partnership with Magna.

Yulu’s two-wheelers can be hired for short durations using its mobile application. The blue, single-seat two-wheelers have become a common sight in Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai.

The company is looking to ramp up its rental fleet to over 100,000 two-wheelers from about 10,000 at present. For further capital requirements to reach that scale, the company will be raising debt, Gupta said. Yulu has tied up with Bajaj Auto for the manufacturing of these vehicles.

On the battery-swapping side, Magna and Yulu will be setting up a new company that has a placeholder name of Yulu Energy. Under this company, Yulu and Magna plan to leverage the existing battery-swapping and charging network of the shared mobility company and open it to other companies and the public.

The company is targeting a network of over 500 charging stations over the next 12 months. Companies planning to tap into this network will have to adapt to the battery and charging standards of Yulu.

In future, the company plans to adopt an additional charging standard for better usability across other makes of electric vehicles, said Gupta, who is also the chief executive.

Yulu claims that this expansion of fleet and battery-swapping stations will make it cash-flow positive.

“We can clearly see a 100 (times) growth opportunity for Yulu in both the BaaS and MaaS businesses in the next three-four years,” Gupta said in a press statement. BaaS stands for battery-as-a-service and MaaS for mobility-as-a-service.

“We will go deeper and denser in our existing markets and explore new areas while delivering a great customer experience,” he said.

For Magna, this will be a significant investment in the electric mobility segment in India, Matteo Del Sorbo, executive vice president of Magna, told ET from Canada via videoconferencing.

“It’s a large investment that Magna is making both on the mobility side as well as the battery-as-a-service company that we are creating. So, this is our entry into the Indian market, and we feel we have a competitive advantage together with Yulu,” he said.

Yulu has had strategic partnerships with Bajaj Auto on product design, technology platforms, engineering processes and manufacturing. Its next generation of electric two-wheelers will roll out of Bajaj’s Pune facility by 2022-end.

Certus Capital’s Earnnest.me invests Rs 40 crore in Pharande Spaces’ Pune residential project

IndusLaw advised and represented Certus Capital on this deal. The IndusLaw team consisted of Avikshit Moral (Partner), Preeti Dhar (Principal Associate), Nikita Bhosle (Associate), Yash Bhatt (Associate)

Certus Capital’s digital neo-financing platform Earnnest.me has invested Rs 40 crore in an advanced stage mid-market residential project being developed by Pune-based real estate development firm Pharande Spaces.

The investment with Pharande Spaces is a part of Certus Capital’s strategy to deploy about Rs 500 crore in the current financial year in senior secured real estate credit deals through Earnnest.me.

The platform is also in the process of evaluating several other transactions and is targeting to close at least two more deals in the next quarter. These deals will be spread across tier 1 markets like Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and NCR.

Prior to this, Earnnest.me had invested Rs 40 crore in a Chennai-based real estate company Arun Excello’s portfolio of four affordable housing projects. A diversified profile of investors including bankers, financial services professionals, lawyers, chartered accountants, high-net worth investors, etc. participated through Earnnest.me in this Chennai project. As a part of its strategy, Certus Capital picks up 10-15% of every investment to ensure its presence throughout the investment cycle.

Certus has recently strengthened its leadership team by adding seven members and middle and senior levels. These include ex-Piramal Capital executive Gaurav Bhalla as Director and ex-Deloitte India executive Siddharth Pal as Senior Vice President.

Of these, Bhalla has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry with expertise in fundraising and financial product distribution whereas Pal has resourceful advisory, fundraising and debt restructuring experience in real estate and BFSI sectors, the company said.

Certus Capital is working towards building Earnnest.me as a robust neo-financing platform offering a diversified range of real estate investment options and fixed income opportunities.

Since its inception in 2018, Certus Capital has evaluated over Rs 40,000 crore of real estate credit exposure forming part of NBFCs and housing finance companies.

Certus has also advised foreign institutional investors on close to Rs 10,000 crores of closed investments and platform commitments in real estate credit and warehousing space. Foreign investors participated in over $2 billion of real estate credit opportunities, offering around 18 percent secured returns, over the last three years.

Equistone-Backed Acuity Knowledge Partners Acquires Cians Analytics, Consolidating a Leading Position in the Global Financial Services Outsourcing Market

Acuity Knowledge Partners (“Acuity”), a leading provider of high-value research, analytics and business intelligence to the financial services sector, today announced the acquisition of Cians Analytics (“Cians”), a provider of high-quality, cost-effective research and analytical support for financial institutions. This acquisition will allow Acuity to offer enhanced support in the field of knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and help streamline the operations of financial firms globally. The financial terms of the transaction were undisclosed.

Cians Analytics enables investment banks, private equity funds and corporations to do more with their time while significantly reducing operating costs. Its diverse pool of talent, including financial researchers, developers and data scientists, allows the in-house teams of Cians’ clients to better focus on strategic initiatives and increased output. Challenging economic conditions, the migration of finance talent into the technology sector and disruptions in the financial services space have significantly increased demand for these services. Cians’ product offering also includes LeverData, a proprietary data ingestion, validation and management platform which helps customers eliminate the data reliability issues that often plague financial services firms, saving them money, resources and valuable time.

The acquisition represents the first bolt-on transaction made by Acuity since its buyout by Equistone, a leading European mid-market private equity investor, in 2019. Following the acquisition, all Cians employees will join the Acuity workforce, taking its global headcount to over 5500 employees.

“Cians Analytics has proven, throughout the years, that they have a dedication to quality work and best-in-class service to all of their clients,” said Acuity Knowledge Partners CEO, Robert King. “Given our shared cultures and service offerings, the opportunity to combine our teams and provide high-quality services to a larger client base was a compelling one. Post-transaction Acuity will support over 500 banking and financial services firms worldwide. This deal also supports the significant growth we have seen, and continue to target, in key markets such as the U.S.”

“The combination of both firms not only increases the capabilities we can offer to our combined client set, but also allows our employees and customers to have a truly global engagement team and experience,” said Cians Analytics Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Anmol Bhandari. “We often saw each other in engagements and in the marketplace. It ultimately made sense to combine to truly consolidate offerings and clients and to give the customers and employees the best that both firms can offer.”

“This is a win-win situation for our most important stakeholders, our clients and our employees,” said Cians Analytics Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Aman Chowdhury. “Both firms have a history of delivering high-quality services to a discerning and sophisticated client set spread across the globe. While both firms work with similar types of clients, our services and focus areas are often complementary. This sets the combined firm up as the pre-eminent firm in our industry.”

Speaking about the transaction, Tim Swales, Partner at Equistone, said: “Robert and his team have done an excellent job of driving strong organic growth over the past three years. In Cians we recognised an opportunity to supplement that, by supporting the bolt-on acquisition of a company with a similarly strong and highly complementary service offering and client base. By strengthening the product suite available to clients, we believe this transaction has the potential to further accelerate Acuity’s growth over the coming years.”

Cians was advised on the transaction by Grant Thornton, Mayer Brown and Phoenix Legal, while Acuity was advised by BDA Partners (William Blair), Latham & Watkins, AZB Partners and Baker Hostetler.

The Phoenix team comprised of Co-Founding Partner Abhishek Saxena, Partner Pranav Srivastava, Associate Partner Aditi Sharma, Principal Associate Nikhil Suresh Pareek, and Associates Poorvisha Jindal and Radhika Khanna.