Vijay Pratap Singh Chauhan

Practice Areas

Vijay Pratap Singh Chauhan

Partner

Competition

Vijay has more than 15 years of experience in Competition/Antitrust Practice. He has advised several domestic and international corporates, funds, law firms on full range of competition law matters. He has been involved in strategizing, drafting and filing merger control notifications with the Competition Commission of India for several high profile global as well as domestic M&A transactions, negotiating merger remedies / divestments, third party interventions, merger enforcement and has represented clients in some of the major cartel, bid rigging and abuse of dominance cases before the competition law authorities in India. He also advises on trade law and market access issues, including on negotiating free trade agreements.

Relevant Experience:

Merger control:

• Vijay has advised, drafted and obtained merger control clearances for several high profile, landmark, multi-billion dollar domestic and multi-jurisdictional M&A, private equity and SPAC transactions.

• Vijay has extensive experience in advising on corporate law aspects of M&A / takeover transactions including conducting due diligence and drafting transaction documents. He stands out amongst the other merger control advisors in India by being “on the same page” with the M&A / deal teams. He has been advising on a range of SPA, SHA related clauses such as antitrust risk shifting provisions, interim covenants, regulatory cooperation – hell or high- water clauses, MAE and long-stop date related strategy.

Vijay acted as a lead lawyer for advising, drafting and obtaining merger control clearances for the following high-profile transactions:

• Siemens AG in relation to its proposed global strategic combination with Alstom SA worth around USD 15 billion. The CCI order has become a precedent in the railways sector and bidding markets in India. Whilst the CCI granted its approval, the deal was highly debated in Europe and was eventually blocked.

• Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV in relation to its around USD 100 billion global acquisition of SABMiller plc. The deal is the one of the five largest mergers in corporate history.

• BASF SE in relation to the purchase approval for its global acquisition (worth around USD 9 billion) of certain divestment assets from Bayer regarding the Bayer – Monsanto merger.

• Air India in its disinvestment by the Government of India and acquisition by Talace Private Limited (a Tata group entity) for around USD 2.5 billion.

• ReNew Power Limited in its merger with RMG Acquisition Corporation II, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) and its subsequent listing at Nasdaq.

• BG Group plc for its worth USD 53 billion acquisition by Shell plc, making Shell the second largest energy company.

• Boehringer Ingelheim in relation to its global business swap with Sanofi SA worth around USD 22 billion.

• Abu Dhabi Investment Authority for its proposed acquisition of a controlling stake in the Mumbai Airport.

• Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, inter alia, for its investments in some of India’s leading renewable power and infrastructure companies including the Greenko group, ReNew Power and Cube Highways.

• Tencent (as the lead investor) in respect of its investments in Flipkart and Ola Cabs.

• Saudi Aramco and Lanxess in relation to their global joint venture in the chemical space.

• The Porshe family in relation to their group restructuring involving the Volkswagen group.

• Merck in the sale of its consumer healthcare business to Procter & Gamble for around USD 4 billion.

• BigBasket, India’s leading online grocery delivery company, in relation to the sale of its majority stake to Tata Digital Limited.

• FMC’s in its acquisition of Cheminova AS.

• Adani Green’s joint venture with Total S.A.

• Advised and drafted objections to the merger of TNT and FedEx in India on behalf of their leading global competitor.

• Advised and represented Adani Green Energy Limited before the CCI in relation to a precedent setting case on when interim covenants may violate standstill obligations.

Enforcement:

• Vijay has advised and defended some of India and world’s largest companies before the CCI and the appellate tribunal/courts in relation to cartel / bid rigging and abuse of dominance investigations in sectors including cement, steel, automotive components, tyre, railways, alcoholic beverages, airlines, rubber, sugar, glass, chemical, natural resources, FMCG, pharmaceuticals, retail, insurance, infrastructure and media & entertainment.

• He has also represented several leniency applicants (both large corporations and individuals) before the competition law authorities in India. In addition, he has assisted clients during some of the major dawn raids in the country. He has also conducted internal competition law investigations, mock dawn raid, competition compliance audits (including forensic review) for several international / domestic companies and has regularly advised in respect of their competition law compliance programs and dawn raid readiness.

Market access / trade:

• In addition to competition law, Vijay also advises on market access and trade law issues, including negotiating free trade agreements.

• Vijay is advising the government of a ‘developed’ European county in relation to its ongoing negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement with the Government of India.

Professional Memberships

Bar Council of Delhi, India

Publications

• Clarity on parity? Potential implications of the CCI’s order against MMT-Go for intermediation platforms - https://competition.cyrilamarchandblogs.com/2023/01/clarity-on-parity-potential-implications-of-the-ccis-order-against-mmt-go-for-intermediation-platforms/

• 10 years of merger control in India- Article-10-years-of-merger-control-in-India.pdf (cyrilshroff.com)

• Draft Lesser Penalty Regulations: Key Takeaways- https://competition.cyrilamarchandblogs.com/2023/11/draft-lesser-penalty-regulations-key-takeaways/

• India must be the new champion of globalisation (supporting author)- https://www.livemint.com/opinion/online-views/lets-reimagine-globalization-for-india-to-play-the-asian-champion-11657040583371.htmL

• Competition Law 2.0: Evolution Towards New Economy Challenges- http://bwlegalworld.businessworld.in/article/Competition-Law-2-0-Evolution-Towards-New-Economy-Challenges/05-09-2022-445299/

• Update on Indian Merger Control Regime: The Small Target Exemption and pitfalls around jurisdictional thresholds for merger filings before the CCI- https://competition.cyrilamarchandblogs.com/2022/03/update-on-indian-merger-control-regime-the-small-target-exemption-and-pitfalls-around-jurisdictional-thresholds-for-merger-filings-before-the-cci/

• International Trade: Analysing India’s potential free trade agreements with the UK and the EU – Part 2- https://competition.cyrilamarchandblogs.com/2021/07/international-trade-analysing-indias-potential-free-trade-agreements-with-the-uk-and-the-eu-part-2/

• Analysing India’s potential free trade agreements with the UK and the EU – Part 1- https://competition.cyrilamarchandblogs.com/2021/06/analysing-indias-potential-free-trade-agreements-with-the-uk-and-the-eu-part-1/

• COVID -19 and Competition Law Concerns- https://competition.cyrilamarchandblogs.com/2020/03/covid-19-and-competition-law-concerns/

• India: Merger Control, Global Competition Review- https://globalcompetitionreview.com/review/the-asia-pacific-antitrust-review/2022/article/india-merger-control

• Co-authored the India chapter “Indian competition authority continues to grow”, for Freshfields’ annual publication: 10 Key Themes – Antitrust in Asia, 2017- https://www.freshfields.com/48fbde/globalassets/our-thinking/campaigns/antitrust-in-asia/06304_pg_act_asia-guide_aw_interactive_v3.pdf