July 23, 2019, Mumbai/Delhi: India’s largest law firm, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas acted as the India legal counsel along with Latham & Watkins LLP (London), the international counsel in Equistone Partners Europe Limited’s (Equistone) acquisition of Moody’s Analystics Knowledge Centre (Moody’s Analytics) from Moody’s Corporation (Moody’s). Moody’s Analytics Knowledge Services is leading provider of bespoke research, analytics and automation technology to the financial services sector. Moody’s Analytics Knowledge Services is headquartered in London and has significant presence in India.  

The General Corporate (M&A), Tax, Financing, Competition Law, TMT and Real Estate practices of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised on Indian legal aspects alongside Latham & Watkins. The Firm’s role included providing Indian law related advice on transaction including laws related to exchange control, taxation, real estate, data protection and competition; and reviewing and finalising the transaction documents; and conducting red flags due diligence of multiple Indian target entities.

∙         The Transaction team was led by Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner; and included Gautam Gandotra, Partner, with support from Gagan Sharma, Principal Associate; and Arnav Shah, Senior Associate.

∙         Daksha Baxi, Partner; and Ankit Namdeo, Senior Associate; advised on the Tax related aspects. 

∙         Pranav Sharma, Partner; and Shukti Trivedi, Of-counsel; advised on the Finance aspects of the Transaction.

∙         Avaantika Kakkar, Partner, Kaustav Kundu, Principal Associate; and Sree Ramya Hari, Associate; advised on the Competition Law related issues. 

∙         Abhishek Sharma, Partner, Amit Wadhwani, Director – Real Estate; and Esha Sanas, Associate; advised on the Real Estate related issues. 

∙         Arun Prabhu, Partner, Shabareesh Suresh, Senior Associate; and Samraat Basu, Associate advised on the Data Protection and Privacy related laws.

Other advisors to the Transaction were Latham & Watkins as counsel and DC Advisory, Ernst & Young and Marsh as advisors to Equistone while Slaughter and May acted as the counsel and Centerview Partners as advisors to Moody’s.

The Transaction was signed on 16 July, 2019 and completion of the transaction remains subject to certain closing conditions.