Gaurav Desai

Practice Areas

A qualified lawyer and company secretary, Gaurav earned an LL.M. from King’s College, London, joining the firm in 2006 and is the Managing Partner in New Delhi. Gaurav's corporate, international clients include a leading sovereign wealth fund, BP, Tencent, and General Dynamics.

Gaurav also advises on antitrust matters. His clients include CDPQ, Siemens, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and Porsche. He was involved in the filing of the country’s first two ‘long form’ notifications and one of the first ‘green channel’ notifications with the Competition Commission of India.

Work Highlights

Corporate & M&A

Advised a leading GCC sovereign wealth fund on its acquisition of a 10% stake in HDFC Capital Advisors Limited from HDFC Limited.

Advised Huntsman on the sale of its India-based DIY Consumer Adhesives Business to Pidilite Industries for USD 285 million.

Advised BP on its investment of USD 1 billion in a fuels and mobility joint venture with Reliance Industries.

Advised General Dynamics on the divestment of its global satellite communications and antenna business unit, including the Indian business, to Communications & Power Industries LLC.

Advised London Stock Exchange on its acquisition of the Refinitiv business, from Thomson Reuters and a consortium of investors led by Blackstone and including GIC and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

Advised Mitsubishi Corporation on its acquisition of a minority stake in Cube Highways and Infrastructure Pte. Ltd.

Advised Novartis AG on the Indian legal and regulatory aspects in connection with the acquisition/sale of various businesses and a consumer health joint venture with GSK.

Advised Boehringer Ingelheim on its acquisition of the animal health business of Sanofi and the sale of its consumer health care business to Sanofi.

Advised Saudi Basic Industries Corporation on its acquisition of a 49% stake in a petrochemicals marketing joint venture held by the Indian joint venture partners.

Private Equity & Venture Capital

Advised Tencent and Meituan in connection with the sale of part of their shareholding in the IPO undertaken by Swiggy Limited.

Advised Meituan on the sale of part of its shareholding in Swiggy Limited, prior to the IPO of Swiggy.

Advised Tencent on the acquisition of the business of its portfolio entity operating the “Doubtnut” platform by Allen Career Institute.

Advised Tencent on the on-market sale of part of its shareholding in PB Fintech Limited (Policybazaar).

Advised Tencent on several transactions, including its investments in Flipkart, Ola, Policy Bazaar, Gaana, Hike, NewsDog, PocketFM, Cars24, and PhonePe.

Advised a leading GCC sovereign wealth fund and TPG on their investment in UPL Corporation.

Advised Sailing Capital and China-Eurasian Economic Co-operation Fund L.P. on its acquisition of a minority stake in Ola Cabs.

Advised the Carlyle Group on its acquisition of Atotech B.V. from Total.

Advised Cornell Capital in connection with its investment in Lorom Holding Co.

Competition & Antitrust

Advised and obtained merger control clearance for DSV in relation to its proposed acquisition of 100% of the shares in, and sole control over, Schenker AG from Deutsche Bahn AG.

Advised and obtained merger control clearance for Tiga Acquisition Corp. III in relation to its proposed acquisition of certain preferred stock of Dream Sports Inc. from an existing shareholder of Dream Sports.

Advised and obtained merger control clearance for Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company in relation to its proposed acquisition of 100% of the outstanding shares of, and sole control over, Juniper Networks, Inc.

Advised HDFC Bank and HDFC Credila in obtaining merger control clearance for the acquisition of a minority stake by Shinhan Bank in HDFC Credila.

Advised a leading GCC sovereign wealth fund, in obtaining merger control clearance in relation to its proposed investment in the AM Green group, which intends to operate in the green ammonia and green hydrogen space in India through its acquisition of certain assets of Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited and the entire shareholding of Greenko ZeroC Private Limited.

Conducted an antitrust compliance investigation into the activities of an Indian subsidiary of a multinational industrial engineering conglomerate.

Advised HDFC Bank and HDFC Credila in obtaining merger control approval from the Competition Commission of India in relation to the proposed acquisition of a 90% stake in HDFC Credila by the EQT group and ChrysCapital collectively.

Advised and obtained merger control clearance in relation to HDFC Limited’s acquisition of certain additional shareholding in HDFC Life through on-market purchases.

Advised and obtained merger control clearance in relation to HDFC Limited’s acquisition of certain additional shareholding in HDFC ERGO.

Advised and obtained merger control clearance in relation to the amalgamation of HDFC Limited into and with HDFC Bank.

Advised a leading GCC sovereign wealth fund in obtaining merger control clearance with respect to setting up an infrastructure investment trust in the roads and highways sector, as well as for connected restructurings and investments.

Advised and obtained merger control clearance for Reliance Industries Limited in relation to the acquisition of the polyester business undertakings of two entities of the Shubhalakshmi group by its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary.

Advised and obtained merger control clearance for Constantia Flexibles with respect to a transaction involving the acquisition of shares of certain India entities of Constantia Flexibles by S.B. Packagings and the issue of certain shareholding in S.B. Packagings to Constantia Flexibles.

Advised Huntsman Corporation in obtaining merger control approval from the Competition Commission of India in relation to the proposed acquisition of its textile effects business by Archroma Operations S.à.r.l.

Advised HDFC Life Insurance Company Limited from an antitrust perspective in relation to its obtaining merger control clearance for its acquisition of Exide Life Insurance Company Limited.

Advised and obtained merger control clearance for Unifeeder, a subsidiary of DP World, in relation to its acquisition of certain entities of the Transworld group.

Advised a leading GCC sovereign wealth fund in the first major overseas listing of an Indian company, ReNew Power, via the SPAC route, involving an enterprise value of USD 8 billion.

Advised a leading GCC sovereign wealth fund in relation to its aborted investment in an Indian airports operator. This was amongst the first green channel filings in India.

Advised the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in connection with a proposed investment in the IT sector.

Advised Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec with respect to the proposed sale of its entire stake in Bombardier Transportation (Investment) UK Limited to Alstom S.A., and the subsequent acquisition of a minority stake in Alstom S.A.

Advised Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV for its acquisition of SABMiller plc.

Advised HDFC Limited in connection with its acquisition of Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company and the subsequent merger of Apollo Munich into HDFC Ergo.

Advised Siemens AG in connection with its aborted global strategic combination of Alstom SA and Siemens AG’s mobility businesses.

Advised Tencent with its investment in Flipkart and in Ola Cabs.

Advised a leading global auto parts company on an ongoing cartel investigation.

Conducted an extensive antitrust compliance audit into a leading global cement company’s Indian subsidiary.

Advised leniency applicants in various sectors, including beer, conveyor belts, and railways.

Advised 3M Company on a range of competition/antitrust matters.

Advised and obtained merger control clearance for BP’s acquisition of shares in an entity owned by the Reliance group.

Advised and obtained merger control clearance for Cintra for its acquisition of a stake in IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited.

Advised Investcorp India in relation to gun jumping proceedings arising out of its acquisition of the real estate and private equity fund management businesses of IDFC Alternatives Limited.

Advised ReNew Power in relation to gun jumping proceedings arising out of non-disclosure by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

Investment Platforms and Funds

Advised a leading GCC sovereign wealth fund in connection with its investment in Kotak Real Estate Investment Fund, an AIF managed by the Kotak group.

Advised a leading GCC sovereign wealth fund in connection with its USD 500 million investment in Kotak’s Data Centre Fund (IFSC), an AIF set up by the Kotak group in GIFT city.

Advised a leading GCC sovereign wealth fund, an investor in Cube Highways, on the setting up and transfer of its various road assets into a privately listed Infrastructure Investment Trust.

Advised a leading GCC sovereign wealth fund in connection with its USD 500 million investment in residential real estate focused Kotak’s Real Estate Fund (IFSC) in GIFT city.

Advised a leading GCC sovereign wealth fund on its USD 500 million investment in Kotak India’s Commercial Real Estate Fund (IFSC) in GIFT city.

Advised a leading GCC sovereign wealth fund in relation to its USD 1.2 billion investment in HDFC’s third low-cost housing fund, the HDFC Capital Affordable Real Estate Fund-3 (H-CARE-3).

Advised a leading GCC sovereign wealth fund in connection with its investments in National Investment and Infrastructure Fund’s Master Fund and the investment management entity.

Advised ROADIS, the roads platform owned by PSP Investment, one of the largest Canadian pension fund managers, on its investment platform with NIIF for investments in the roads and highways sector.

Advised a leading GCC sovereign wealth fund with its investment in a pre-stress and distressed assets fund managed by Kotak Investment Advisors.

Publications

See https://touchstonepartners.com/key-people/gaurav-desai/