Indian law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has advised private equity firm Multiples in its investment in Aditya Birla Group’s microfinance non-banking financial company, Svatantra Microfin, which was represented by Khaitan & Co. Multiples, along with Advent International, will invest 19.3 billion rupees ($233 million).
This deal, signed on March 4, is the largest private equity investment in India’s microfinance sector. The deal also signals the return of private equity financing in the country, which appeared to have dried up in recent years.
The corporate team from CAM that led the transaction included partners Aditi Manchanda and Srabanee Ghosh. The team also included Adhiraj Gupta, principal associate; Subhashini Narayanan, senior associate; Sudarshan Srikanth, associate; Utkarsh Roy, associate; Maya Venkiteswaran, associate; and Jeezan Pakhliwal, associate.
Antitrust partner Kirthi Srinivas assisted on the competition aspects of the deal.
Khaitan’s team was led by partner Saswat Subasit.
CAM and Khaitan had last year guided the sale of Navi Group’s microfinance subsidiary Chaitanya India Fin Credit to Svatantra Microfin for $180 million, which made the Ananya Birla-run entity the second largest microfinance NBFC in the country.
