Webinar: SPACs – is this the beginning or the end?

IFLR and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co will host a webinar to discuss the growing interest of SPACs in India and assess its viability on future operations

This event has been postponed due to the current uncertain situation with the Covid-19 pandemic. We will let you know of the new date for this event in due course. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

In association with Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, the live webinar will take place on April 21 at 6pm New Delhi / 1.30pm London / 8.30am New York time.

The growth of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) promises to be among the key M&A trends of 2021, having gained global momentum in recent months. Data compiled by Nasdaq, suggests that there were 34 SPACs in 2017, 46 in 2018 and 59 in 2019. By 2020, this number had multiplied to 248, accounting for more than half of all IPOs carried out. There is an expectation that the amount of SPACs will reach almost 100 per month in 2021.

The discussion has now reached India, with the country’s largest renewable energy company, ReNew Power, opting for this route to list itself on Nasdaq. However, a wider debate on viability remains – especially on investment and taxation – with the current regulatory framework of India not being supportive of the SPAC structure. Is this the beginning or the end for SPACs in India?

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co’s Prashant Gupta and Puja Sondhi are joined by experts – Raj Balakrishnan of BofA Securities, Nitin Savara of EY and Ferish Patel of Cooley – to discuss the macroeconomic and regulatory trends to be aware of, as the interest in SPACs grow in India.

The 45-minute webinar will be moderated by Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co’s Prashant Gupta and introduced by IFLR's Prin Shasiharan. The webinar will be followed by a Q&A session.

Prashant Gupta
	Partner Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co LinkedIn profile E: prashant.gupta@amsshardul.com Prashant Gupta is a partner with Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, where he heads the capital markets practice. He represents both issuers and underwriters in various equity and debt capital raising transactions, including on IPOs, rights issues and qualified institutional placement (QIP) offerings, buy-backs, capital restructurings and pre-IPO private placements. He has advised on capital markets transactions that have raised over $50 billion globally, which includes both the largest IPO and bond offerings out of India, as well as the largest secondary trade on the stock exchanges in India. Prashant has been recognised by publications, including IFLR1000, as one of the leading capital markets practitioners in India. He has also been recognised by IFLR1000 in the list of ‘Asia’s Top Lawyers’ since 2019. He was named in The Economic Times ‘40 under 40’ list of India’s top business leaders in 2019.

Prashant Gupta

Partner

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co

LinkedIn profile

E: prashant.gupta@amsshardul.com

Prashant Gupta is a partner with Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, where he heads the capital markets practice. He represents both issuers and underwriters in various equity and debt capital raising transactions, including on IPOs, rights issues and qualified institutional placement (QIP) offerings, buy-backs, capital restructurings and pre-IPO private placements. He has advised on capital markets transactions that have raised over $50 billion globally, which includes both the largest IPO and bond offerings out of India, as well as the largest secondary trade on the stock exchanges in India.

Prashant has been recognised by publications, including IFLR1000, as one of the leading capital markets practitioners in India. He has also been recognised by IFLR1000 in the list of ‘Asia’s Top Lawyers’ since 2019. He was named in The Economic Times ‘40 under 40’ list of India’s top business leaders in 2019.

Puja Sondhi
	Partner Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co LinkedIn profile E: puja.sondhi@amsshardul.com Puja Sondhi is a partner with the Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co’s general corporate practice. She has expertise in M&A, joint ventures, private equity, venture capital, public M&A and corporate restructuring. She has successfully closed numerous complex, path-breaking and award-winning transactions requiring innovative structuring, regulatory expertise and a solution-oriented approach across diverse sectors. She regularly advises investors, founders and companies on fundraising, business structuring, strategic acquisitions and regulatory matters. She also has extensive experience in the retail and e-commerce, digital media, online gaming and healthcare sectors. Puja is an expert in joint ventures across their life cycle spanning formation, restructuring, shareholder disputes and exits across sectors. She was recently recognised among the Top 100 individual lawyers by Forbes at the Forbes India Legal Powerlist 2020.

Puja Sondhi

Partner

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co

LinkedIn profile

E: puja.sondhi@amsshardul.com

Puja Sondhi is a partner with the Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co’s general corporate practice. She has expertise in M&A, joint ventures, private equity, venture capital, public M&A and corporate restructuring. She has successfully closed numerous complex, path-breaking and award-winning transactions requiring innovative structuring, regulatory expertise and a solution-oriented approach across diverse sectors. She regularly advises investors, founders and companies on fundraising, business structuring, strategic acquisitions and regulatory matters. She also has extensive experience in the retail and e-commerce, digital media, online gaming and healthcare sectors.

Puja is an expert in joint ventures across their life cycle spanning formation, restructuring, shareholder disputes and exits across sectors. She was recently recognised among the Top 100 individual lawyers by Forbes at the Forbes India Legal Powerlist 2020.

Raj Balakrishnan
	Managing director BofA Securities LinkedIn profile Raj Balakrishnan is the co-head of investment banking and head of M&A in India. Prior to this, he was head of corporate finance and has considerable execution experience in a variety of sectors including healthcare, TMT, oil and gas, engineering, financial services and cement. Select transactions that Raj has worked on include the acquisition of a minority stake by Facebook in Jio Platforms ($5.7 billion), the acquisition of Tata Chemicals’ consumer business by Tata Global Beverages ($830 million), and the acquisition of GSK’s Horlicks and other consumer healthcare nutrition products portfolio by Hindustan Unilever (€4.6 billion).

Raj Balakrishnan

Managing director

BofA Securities

LinkedIn profile

Raj Balakrishnan is the co-head of investment banking and head of M&A in India. Prior to this, he was head of corporate finance and has considerable execution experience in a variety of sectors including healthcare, TMT, oil and gas, engineering, financial services and cement.

Select transactions that Raj has worked on include the acquisition of a minority stake by Facebook in Jio Platforms ($5.7 billion), the acquisition of Tata Chemicals’ consumer business by Tata Global Beverages ($830 million), and the acquisition of GSK’s Horlicks and other consumer healthcare nutrition products portfolio by Hindustan Unilever (€4.6 billion).

Nitin Savara
	Partner EY LinkedIn profile Nitin Savara is a partner at EY, and is a qualified chartered accountant and lawyer. With over 20 years of experience, he is an expert in transaction structuring. He has extensive experience in advising clients across the entire spectrum of public and private market transactions, including IPO structuring for domestic and international capital markets, M&A, investment structuring, and delisting and minority buy-outs. Nitin regularly advises on strategic matters, Indian taxes, international tax, exchange control and other related areas. He has also been named by ITR's World Tax guide as a key advisor on significant transactions.

Nitin Savara

Partner

LinkedIn profile

Nitin Savara is a partner at EY, and is a qualified chartered accountant and lawyer. With over 20 years of experience, he is an expert in transaction structuring. He has extensive experience in advising clients across the entire spectrum of public and private market transactions, including IPO structuring for domestic and international capital markets, M&A, investment structuring, and delisting and minority buy-outs.

Nitin regularly advises on strategic matters, Indian taxes, international tax, exchange control and other related areas. He has also been named by ITR's World Tax guide as a key advisor on significant transactions.

Ferish Patel
	Partner Cooley LinkedIn profile Ferish Patel heads Cooley’s Singapore corporate practice. For over 18 years, he has advised clients across the full-spectrum of corporate matters – including private financings of all stages, IPOs, bank financings, leveraged buyouts, M&A, joint ventures and corporate governance matters. Ferish provides strategic guidance to founders, high growth companies and investment funds on matters in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the US. In doing so, he has assisted clients in raising over $100 billion in public and private financings, involving equity and debt capital.

Ferish Patel

Partner

Cooley

LinkedIn profile

Ferish Patel heads Cooley’s Singapore corporate practice. For over 18 years, he has advised clients across the full-spectrum of corporate matters – including private financings of all stages, IPOs, bank financings, leveraged buyouts, M&A, joint ventures and corporate governance matters.

Ferish provides strategic guidance to founders, high growth companies and investment funds on matters in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the US. In doing so, he has assisted clients in raising over $100 billion in public and private financings, involving equity and debt capital.

Prin Shasiharan
	Senior commercial editor IFLR LinkedIn profile E: prin.shasiharan@euromoneyplc.com Prin Shasiharan drives thought leadership with global financial and corporate advisors for IFLR’s insight projects, in addition to managing contributions from partner firms. He has hosted and moderated high-level events involving eminent legal practitioners. He also manages commercial collaborations for other Euromoney brands including The Deal, Managing IP and ITR. Prin has experience in tax compliance, financial crime and regulatory roles, and has previously worked for international organisations including the United Nations and the Council of Europe.

Prin Shasiharan

Senior commercial editor

IFLR

LinkedIn profile

E: prin.shasiharan@euromoneyplc.com

Prin Shasiharan drives thought leadership with global financial and corporate advisors for IFLR’s insight projects, in addition to managing contributions from partner firms. He has hosted and moderated high-level events involving eminent legal practitioners. He also manages commercial collaborations for other Euromoney brands including The Deal, Managing IP and ITR.

Prin has experience in tax compliance, financial crime and regulatory roles, and has previously worked for international organisations including the United Nations and the Council of Europe.