The Blackstone Group has acquired South City Projects (Kolkata) Limited (“SCPKL”) from its existing shareholders, comprising Merlin Group, Sureka Group, Emami Group, JB Group, Shrachi Group and Rameswara Group, for ₹3,250 crore.
SCPKL houses the iconic “South City Mall” in Kolkata, West Bengal.
Khaitan & Co acted as the legal counsel to the Blackstone Group and advised and assisted them on structuring of the transaction, legal and title due-diligence, and drafting, negotiation, finalisation and execution of definitive agreements relating to the transaction.
The deal team comprised of Deepak Jodhani (Partner), Shourya Sengupta (Partner), Sneh Lata (Principal Associate), Divyansh Joshi (Senior Associate), Shreetama Chakraborty (Senior Associate), Aanchal Khandelwal (Associate) and Ishaan Nagarkatti (Associate).
With guidance from: Haigreve Khaitan (Senior Partner)
The deal team was assisted by the following:
Real Estate aspects: Gaurav Dasgupta (Partner) and Richaa Mukhopadhyay (Associate);
Antitrust/competition aspects: Anisha Chand (Partner), Tanveer Verma (Principal Associate) and Ritika Ghosh (Associate);
Regulatory aspects: Sanchit Agarwal (Partner), Romit Kohli (Associate) and Shivangi Mishra (Associate);
Employment aspects: Deepak Kumar (Partner) and Varsha Sankara Raman (Associate);
Disputes and litigation aspects: Rajiv Bhatnagar (Partner), Ishaan Khanna (Counsel), Pratik Shanu (Principal Associate) and Agni Sen (Senior Associate);
Closing and other assistance: Karishma Sethia (Senior Associate).
AQUILAW advised South City Projects (Kolkata) Limited on this transaction. The Firm's role included reviewing the Business Transfer Agreement, drafting, negotiating and finalising the Deed of Conveyance, Deed of Assignment /Supplementary Development Agreement, as well as instruments for revocation and fresh grant of Development Powers of Attorney in relation to the South City Retreat Project. The Firm also rendered strategic business advisory in relation to fulfilment of other pre-closing actions for the successful acquisition of South City Mall as well as advised on the execution of the Intellectual Property Assignment Agreement and the Arbitral Award Assignment Agreement.
The transaction and advisory team was led by Sucharita Basu (Founding & Managing Partner), Soumya Banerjee (Partner), Tanya Sumana Das (Associate Partner) and Ankit Chhaparia (Principal Associate Designate), with support from the following:
Arbitral Award Assignment: Piyush Agrawal (Partner), Kanchan Modak (Principal Associate), Subarna Saha (Senior Associate), and Debdatta Mukhopadhyay (Associate)
IP Assignment: Kanchan Modak (Principal Associate) and Sakchi Agarwal (Associate)
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co also advised South City Projects (Kolkata) Limited and its existing shareholders – Emami group, Merlin group, Shrachi group, Rameswara group and Sureka group, on this transaction.
The transaction team consisted of Sakshi Mehra (Partner), Manan Mehta (Partner), Dipayan Bhattacherjee (Partner), Manisha Nayak (Senior Associate), Ketayun Mistry (Associate), Rajat Sinha (Associate) and Yashwanth Samayam (Associate).
This acquisition has strengthened Blackstone’s presence in the eastern Indian market, making it one of eastern India’s largest private equity investments. Blackstone plans to position South City Mall for long-term success benefiting from the American giant’s scale, operational expertise and deep experience in the real estate sector.
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