Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised its longstanding client Adani on Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone’s acquisition of 80 percent stake in Astro Offshore, an offshore support vessel operator. Watson Farley & Williams advised the selling shareholders of Astro Offshore.
Astro Offshore owns a fleet of 26 vessels including barges and workboats, counting miner NMDC, Saipem, McDermott, and construction bellwether Larsen and Toubro as its customers.
The deal aligns with the Adani Ports’ plan to become one of the world’s largest marine operators. Astro will enhance the Gautam Adani-led company’s global marine portfolio and add new Tier-1 customers to the roster.
The deal comes as India's largest private port operator aims to grow its presence beyond its mainstay port operations to maintain its sector lead against smaller rivals JSW Infrastructure and Gujarat Pipavav, Reuters reported.
The CAM team on the deal was led by partner and Ahmedabad office head Paridhi Adani, and included partners Surya Sreenivasan and Saurabh Sharma, and senior associate-designate Utkarsh Mankad.
WFW’s cross-border maritime team was led by assets and structured finance partner Michael Savva and corporate partner Alastair Holland in Dubai. London corporate senior associate David Bath and Dubai corporate associate Samaa Abdalla provided transaction support, with formal law alliance partner in Singapore Wong Tan & Molly Lim advising on matters of local law.
