Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Advises Axis Bank on Acquisition of up to 30% Stake in Max Life

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised Axis Bank Limited (Axis Bank) on acquisition of up to 30% stake in Max Life Insurance Company Limited (Max Life) from Max Financial Services Limited (Max Financial) by way of a secondary transfer of shares. For the acquisition, Axis Bank, Max Financial, and Max Life executed a share purchase agreement on April 27, 2020.

The General Corporate, Capital Markets, Competition Law and Taxation Practices of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised on the Transaction.

• The Transaction Team was led by Yash Ashar, Partner; and Indranath Bishnu, Partner; with support from Pranjita Barman, Principal Associate; Soumyadipta Chanda, Principal Associate; Anirud Sudarsan R, Associate; and Viraj Dhurrin, Associate.

• The Capital Markets Advisory team was led by Gokul Rajan, Partner; with support from Aashima Johur, Principal Associate Designate.

• The Competition Advisory team was led by Anshuman Sakle, Partner; with support from Kaustav Kundu, Principal Associate; and Shreya Joshi, Associate.

• The Corporate Due Diligence team was led by Indranath Bishnu, Partner, with support from Soumyadipta Chanda, Principal Associate; Viraj Dhuri, Associate; Anirud Sudarsan R, Associate; and Soumyaditya Dasgupta, Associate.

• The Tax Due Diligence team was led by Daksha Baxi, Head - International Taxation; Mekhla Anand, Partner; and Kunal Savani, Director; with support from Shiladitya Dash, Senior Associate; Bipluv Jhingan, Associate; and Jesika Babel, Associate

• The Corporate Secretarial Team that assisted in preparing the RoC search report involved Manik Makwana, Senior executive - corporate secretarial services; Mihir Sangani, Executive - corporate secretarial services; Charmi Sanghvi, Executive - corporate secretarial services; Rasika Bharadkar, Executive - corporate secretarial services; and Shikha Mody, Executive - corporate secretarial services.

As a part of the Transaction, Axis Bank, Max Financial, Max Life, Mr. Analjit Singh, Max Ventures Investment Holding Private Limited (Max Ventures), and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company Limited (MSI) entered into a shareholders' agreement to record the inter se rights and obligations of the aforesaid parties.

The completion of the Transaction is subject to approval of the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Competition Commission of India (CCI).

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas takes forward the values going back 103 years, of the erstwhile Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co., whose pre-eminence, experience and reputation of almost a century has been unparalleled in the Indian legal fraternity. Tracing its professional lineage to 1917, the Firm of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas is now the largest full-service law firm in India, with over 750 lawyers including over 130 partners, and offices in India’s key business centres at Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad. The Firm advises a large, and varied client base that includes domestic and foreign commercial enterprises, financial institutions, private equity funds, venture capital funds, start-ups and governmental and regulatory bodies.

The firm, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, was awarded recently awarded with “India – Firm of the Year” at the AsiaLaw Regional Awards 2019 and “India Deal Firm of the Year” at the In-House Community Counsels of the Year Awards 2019. The firm was also named as the “Most Innovative National Law Firm of the Year – India for 2018” at the IFLR Asia Awards, having also been successful in winning the prestigious & coveted “National Law Firm of the Year, 2018 for India”  at the Chambers Asia-Pacific Awards. The firm was also voted as the “Employer of Choice for 2018” from India, by the Asian Legal Business, now 4 years in a row, building upon the several awards that the erstwhile Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co. had won in the past.