Mumbai-based law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas said that it was roped in by Kotak Mahindra Bank as an advisor for the bank’s INR 537 crores acquisition of Sonata Finance.

The all-cash deal was announced in February 2023.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas said that its standard corporate, finance, and financial regulatory practices advised Kotak Mahindra Bank on the transaction. The transaction team was headed by L. Viswanathan, Partner of Chair Finance, Projects & Insolvency, Indranath Bishnu, Partner, Pranjita Barman, Partner, and were assisted by Anirud Sudarshan R, Senior Associate, as well as Ayushi Agrawal Associate.

The due diligence team of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas was headed by Pranjita Barman, Partner, with support from Anirud Sudarsan R, Senior Associate, Niyati Dholakia, Senior Associate, Soumyaditya Dasgupta, Associate, and Ayushi Agrawal Associate.

The employment team or the due diligence process was headed by Richa Mohanty Rao, Partner, with assistance by Ankita Sharma, Senior Associate, Luv Saggi, Senior Associate, and Anushka Dua, Associate.

Bharath Reddy, Partner, with assistance from Sindhushri Bharinath, Director General Corporate, as well as Sudipta Lenka, Associate, advised on the purchase of shares from employee shareholders of Sonata Finance along with Sonata Employee Welfare Trust.

The finance team was led by Meeta Kurpad, Partner, with assistance from Kishan Kumar Gupta, Associate. The team was consulted on financing-related matters such as the transfer or assignment of loans.

Ganesh Kumar, Consultant, and Lily Vadera, Consultant, provided advice on RBI-related aspects of the proposed deal and incidental matters associated with it.

Kotak Mahindra Bank has entered into agreements to purchase shares from the current shareholders of Sonata Finance for 2,64,53,256 equity shares of the latter at a face value of INR 10 each.

The proposed deal has been approved by Kotak Mahindra Bank’s board of directors as well as that of Sonata Finance and is subject to approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other necessary approvals.

  Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sonata Finance