Vaibhav Suri

Practice Areas

Partner

Real Estate

Vaibhav has over 20 years of experience in Real Estate practice.

A transactional lawyer and has rendered advisory and legal assistance in the field of real estate and property laws and associated regulatory works to a host of on-shore and off- shore real estate developers / investors / high net-worth individuals etc.

Vaibhav is experienced in real estate transactions and projects of acquisition, development, investment structuring, sale, leasing, collaboration and construction contracts on a pan India basis. He has in-depth understanding of multi-state issues pertaining to ownership, leasing, documentation, stamping and registration of documents, permitted usage of the properties, regulatory and approval issues in the multi-state scenario in India.

His expertise includes property due diligence /title verification on a pan India basis, structuring of real estate transactions; drafting of transaction documents including joint venture agreement, development agreements, agreements to sell, sale deeds, lease deeds, settlement agreements, leave and license agreements and all such real estate related documents; and negotiations to ensure adequate safeguards in consonance with clients’ business objectives and commercial understanding between the parties.

Some of the key clients serviced by Vaibhav are Godrej Properties, Godrej Fund Management, Mahindra LifeSpace Developers, ATS Developers, Anant Raj Industries, Experion Developers, Martin Happy Homes, EMAAR, BML Investments, Soma New Towns, Ascendas FirstSpace, Hines, SkyPower, Apraava, Solarpack (Zelestra), ACME Cleantech, ReNew Power, IB VOGT, RPSG, Jindal group, StatKraft, O2 Power,

EDF-EREN, RSPL group, ASK Investments, SBI Caps, HDFC Capital, Kotak Realty Fund, SWAMI Fund, Government of United States of America.

Relevant Experience:

Acquisition for large projects (renewable energy, warehousing / logistic parks):

• Advised Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A., Export-Import Bank of India, India Infrastructure Finance Company (UK) Limited, MUFG Bank, Ltd., Société Générale and YES Bank Limited - IFSC Banking Unit in connection with foreign currency term loan facilities for approx. USD 425 Million to Serentica Renewables for construction, operation and maintenance of a 200 MW hybrid (wind and solar) power project in Maharashtra and Rajasthan. This deal has been awarded the “Indian Deal of the Year” at the PFI Awards.

• Advised ACME Cleantech, one of the largest companies in the solar energy sector with cumulative capacity of more than 5500+ MW and having presence across India. Advised on structuring the acquisition of ~ 20,000 acres in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh on purchase / lease basis and undertook comprehensive title verification of the lands, advised on local land laws & issues including land ceiling laws, conversion, and prior permissions from revenue authorities. The transaction involved strict timelines as the acquisition was to be completed in a time bound manner. Navigated the client through all title issues / red flags, advised and assisted in obtaining local permissions and in documentation.

• Advised Ascendas FirstSpace in acquisition of lands in Haryana and Telangana for development of industrial warehouse and was involved in end-to-end support entailing land due diligence transaction documentation, advisory on stamp duty and land related issues such as partition, stamp duty, document registration, mutations, etc

• Advising Aditya Birla Renewable on acquisition of ~ 300 acres in Gujarat (GUVNL 300 MW) & Maharashtra (MAHAGENCO 77 MW) for setting up solar projects.

• Advising Vector Green on acquisition of ~ 250 acres in Gujarat for setting up solar projects. The scope of work included advising on title issues, minor and SC / ST issues, land use conversion / bona-fide industrial use, land ceiling issues and execution of confirmations by the antecedent owners as required from our review of the title flow.

• Advised ReNew Power in acquisition of agricultural lands at District Bhavnagar, Gujarat for the B2B wind power project (Otha Phase 1-3) having aggregate capacity of 175 MW. The work involved comprehensive review of title documents and record of rights (7x12 extracts, mutations etc.) for last 30 years’ along with applicable provisions under the revenue and tenancy laws dealing with purchase and use of agricultural lands for bonafide industrial purposes and necessary GRs issued by the State Government.

Acquisition, joint venture, funding:

• Advised the Government of the United States of America on sale of its property ‘American Center’ in Mumbai, to the House of the Abhinandan Lodha group (one of the premier real estate developers in India). Advised on all aspects entailing the vendor’s due diligence, tax issues, bidding process for sale, drafting & negotiations on the transfer documents, and regulatory compliances of stamping & registration. She not only individually handled negotiations with the Lodha team and their counsels, she intelligibly navigated the U.S. Consulate at Mumbai and the U.S. Government through the local Maharashtra laws and requirements raised by the regulatory authorities.

• Advised Godrej Properties in its acquisition of 15 acres land parcel in Sector 103, Gurugram from Microtek Infratech, for development of a group housing project at a deal value of ~ INR 403 Crore. Undertook (a) comprehensive due diligence of the land parcel; (b) opinion on potential impact of the ‘Environment Management Plan’ of Government of Haryana for conservation of the Najafgarh lake (abutting the project site) and ensuing directions issued by the NGT; (c) transaction structuring; and (d) assistance on the sale documentation and regulatory compliances.

• Advised Benetton India on sale of its industrial land and building in Gurugram to Conscient Infrastructure for deal value of ~ INR 85 Crores. Entire deal was handedly by me providing continuous support to the Client on all aspects including title diligence, regulatory requirements of stamping & registration and document negotiations with Conscient and Argus Partners (their counsel). There were some pending title issues, litigations & acquisition by State Government, and subsisting income tax demand on Benetton, and I successfully navigated the client with minimum exposure on R&Ws and indemnity vis-a-vis the buyer. Deal was successfully completed within stringent timelines of 4 weeks requiring multiple interactions with Benetton legal and business teams along with negotiations with counter party.

Education

Awards