Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas Advises SUEZ on its Acquisition of Driplex Water Engineering

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co (SAM & Co) acted as the legal counsel to Suez Enviroment and Degremontin the acquisition of  majority stake in Driplex Water Engineering and Driplex Water Engineering International. Suez is a France-based € 15 billion business group, and a global leader in management solutions for the entire water and waste cycle.

The SAM & Co Team conducted legal due diligence on the target companies, drafted and negotiated the share purchase agreement, shareholders agreement and other related documents. The M&A Team of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas was led by Mr. Amit Kumar, Partner and included Mr. Saurav Kumar, Partner, Mr. Varun Sehgal, Principal Associate, Mr. Harman Walia, Associate and Ms. Manika Mishra, Associate.

As a part of the transaction, Suez Enviroment  India Private Limited and Degremont Private Limited (both ultimate subsidiaries of Suez, France), have purchased majority shares of Driplex Water Engineering Private Limited and Driplex Water Engineering International Private Limited (Target Companies) from the Promoters (Sellers). It was a downstream investment by subsidiaries of a foreign company and the issues related to FDI were also handled by the SAM & Co Team.

Driplex, an Indian company, is a leading player in the industrial water treatment market. Founded in 1974 and headquartered in New Delhi, the company offers value-added water treatment solutions for industrial customers in India and overseas. It is a specialist in engineering, design, manufacturing and commissioning of effluent and process water treatment plants for the Power, Oil & Gas (Refinery) and other industrial sectors, in which it has achieved a strong reputation, both within India and overseas.

With this acquisition, Suez extends its footprint and capabilities to respond more effectively to India’s increasing industrial water demand and stringent enviromental regulations. Suez will benefit from commercial and technological complementarities which will allow it to offer a complete portfolio of solutions and technologies to industrial customers. In addition, Suez will also benefit in reinforcing its manufacturing capacities in India, aligned with the “Make in India” initiative, as Driplex has a few manufacturing plants in the country.

The parties involved in the transaction were the Suez Group (Our Client) and Mr. K.L. Jain and his family (Promoter Sellers).

Other advisors to the transaction were Lincoln International (the financial advisors to Suez Group) and Desai & Diwanji (Advisor to Mr. K.L. Jain and his family.)

Deal Value: Confidential.

Date of Closing: March 1st, 2016.

About Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co (SAM & Co)

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co (SAM & Co) is one of India’s leading full service law firms. Founded on almost a century of legal achievement, SAM & Co. reconstituted in May 2015 and has started anew. The Firm is known for its exceptional Mergers & Acquisition, Competition Law, Dispute Resolution & Arbitration, Regulatory Litigation, Capital Markets and Private Equity practices globally.

Its mission is “enabling business by providing solutions as trusted advisors through excellence, responsiveness, innovation and collaboration”. The Firm has been at the helm of major headline transactions and litigations in all segments of industry and business besides representing major trans-national corporates on their India entry and business strategy.

Headed by eminent practitioners Shardul Shroff, Pallavi Shroff and Akshay Chudasama, the Firm has more than 370 lawyers, including 70 partners across its six offices in India, which include – New Delhi, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata.