Corporate, Commercial and M&A

Our corporate and commercial law expertise includes:

  • Competition law, including advice to corporations on merger clearance and conduct issues, such as price fixing and monopolies.
  • Corporate advisory, including general advice to corporations on regulatory matters, regulatory investigations and compliance with corporate laws.
  • Corporate governance, including directors’ duties and issues relating to shareholder rights.
  • Inward and outward investment both to and from Pakistan into the Middle East, Europe, United States and Australasia.
  • Joint ventures both in the power and energy sector and beyond.
  • Mergers and acquisitions (domestic and cross border), our strength in mergers and acquisition is derived from our lawyers having advised on some of the largest leveraged buy-outs in Europe over the past decade. We are able to advise on the full spectrum of mergers and acquisition transactions, from hostile bids to friendly offers and from strategic alliances to spin-offs.
  • Private equity, including advice on equity investments, management buy-outs, venture capital investments and secondary buy-outs.
  • Public equity issues, including initial public offerings, private placements, rights issues and bonus issues.
  • Restructuring and insolvency, including corporate recovery and restructuring work and advising companies, their directors and financial institutions when a company is in financial difficulty.

 

Recent Deal Highlights

 

  • Advised Arif Lakhani and Qist Bazar on Bank Alfalah’s equity investment in and embedded financing for Qist Bazaar which is a leading Buy-Now-Pay-Later company in Pakistan..
  • Advised Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital on their maiden VC investment in Pakistan in D-Bank which is an innovative fintech services provider in Pakistan.
  • Advised Credit Suisse and Fullerton in relation to divestment of Fullerton’s equity stake in MCB, one of top 5 banks in Pakistan.
  • Advising Kumon Japan, one of the world’s largest after-school enrichments programmes, on market entry into Pakistan and other related aspects.
  • Advised the sponsors of NDC Group, a leading Asian computer software and IT company headquartered in Pakistan on the sale of NDC Group to Systems Limited, a leading listed information technology in Pakistan.
  • Advised Graphene Ventures on the Pakistani law aspects of its multi-million dollar venture capital investment in an offshore entity which owns subsidiaries in Pakistan.
  • Advising Vezeeta, a global digital healthcare powerhouse on its footprint in Pakistan.
  • Advising Globalization Partners, a global digital healthcare powerhouse on establishing its presence in Pakistan.
  • Advising the Privatisation Commission of Pakistan, as part of the winning consortium led by Credit Suisse (Singapore) Limited, on the privatisation of two RLNG based power plants in what will be the largest ever privatisation (in the power sector) through a strategic sale in Pakistan’s history expected to yield around USD 2 billion.
  • Advised a leading global private equity firm as one of the bidders on the Pakistani law aspects of its multi-billion dollar bid for the tea business of Unilever.
  • Advised Thai Stanley Electric Public Co., Ltd. and Stanley Electronic CO., LTD on their maiden private equity investment/joint venture in Pakistan.
  • Advised Novartis Pharma Pakistan Limited on its multi-million dollar acquisition of the assets of Bayer Pakistan (Private) Limited.
  • Advising Sumitomo Corporation, a Fortune Global 500 company, on its engagements in the agricultural sector in Pakistan.
  • Advising Mastercard on various aspects of the regulatory landscape in Pakistan.
  • Advised Rotopack in establishing a joint venture with Siegwerk to manufacture and supply packaging inks and varnishes to the Pakistani market.
  • Advising Ericsson Pakistan on corporate and regulatory matters in Pakistan.
  • Advised China Power International Maintenance Engineering Company Limited and Hub Power Holdings Limited on their joint venture agreement to provide operation, maintenance and other services in Pakistan.
  • Advised PKIC on its equity acquisition in Planet N (Private) Limited and on its investment in and shareholder arrangements in Pakistan’s first professional clearing member.
  • Advised edotco, a group company of Malaysia’s Axiata, on its USD 1.03 billion acquisition of two telecom tower companies in Pakistan including a portfolio of 13,000 towers from Jazz/Mobilink. The Jazz/Mobilink transaction is the largest private acquisition transaction in Pakistan’ history.
  • Advising Müller & Bleher Holding GmbH & Co. KG, a German engineering company on setting up its subsidiary in Pakistan.
  • Advised AHCL on its divestment from one of Pakistan’s leading AMCs.
  • Advising PayCare and EncorePay on their various projects.
  • Advising Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. Ltd., a leading Chinese car manufacturing company on its USD 100 million joint venture with Master Group, a leading conglomerate in Pakistan, for the manufacture, distribution and sale of motor vehicles in Pakistan. This is the largest Chinese investment in Pakistan’s automotive industry to date.
  • Advised a leading Chinese truck manufacturing company on its multi-million dollar joint venture with a leading Pakistani company for the assembly of heavy vehicles in Pakistan.
  • Advised a leading Chinese car manufacturing company on its multi-million dollar joint venture with a leading conglomerate in Pakistan for the manufacture, distribution and sale of motor vehicles in Pakistan.
  • Advising The Cheez Group, a Chinese e-commerce company, on its investments in the e-commerce industry in Pakistan.
  • Advising Fatima Ventures (Pvt.) Limited, a subsidiary of Fatima Group which is one of the largest conglomerates in Pakistan, on its investments in the technology sector in and outside Pakistan.
  • Advised Avanza Group on its multi million dollar joint venture with Premier Systems to establish a local online payment gateway system in the growing e-commerce market of Pakistan.
  • Conducted due diligence for one of the largest privately owned US combined-media group and provided local law advice in relation to their proposed acquisition of a business in Pakistan.
  • Advised a leading European State-Owned Oil & Gas Company on its multi-million dollar bid for the acquisition of Premier Oil Pakistan’s oil and gas assets. The transaction involved undertaking extensive due diligence on the target’s operations and assets in Pakistan with respect to compliance with applicable laws.
  • Advised a private equity backed international company in relation to its acquisition of the Telecom Tower Assets and related Business from Modaraba Al Mali.
  • Advised NewNet Communications (USA) sponsored by a US private equity firm on the acquisition of the Wi-Max business of Nokia Siemens in Pakistan.
  • Advised a leading hospital chain in Pakistan on a private placement of shares amount to Rs 1 billion.
  • Advised the sponsors of a listed steel manufacturing company with Japanese investors on the divestment of their shares to a leading conglomerate in Pakistan.
  • Advised JS Bank Limited and Pakistan Catalyst Fund I LLC on their multi-million dollar co-investment in an auto parts manufacturing company in Pakistan.
  • Advised JS Private Equity (an international private equity fund) in relation to their:
  • Multi-million dollar investment in a steel manufacturing company in Pakistan;
  • Multi-million dollar investments in two pharmaceutical companies in Pakistan; and
  • Multi-million dollar acquisition of a private LPG company in Pakistan.
  • Advised JS Private Equity on its bid for the acquisition of a controlling stake in Shell Gas LPG Pakistan, a listed company, and SHV Energy Pakistan (Pvt) Limited, a private company.
  • Advised the Shareholders of EatOye Pakistan (one of the largest online food delivery companies) on the sale of their company to Foodpanda (sponsored by Rocket Internet) which was their biggest competitor in the field of online food delivery in Pakistan.
  • Advised a Pakistani conglomerate (listed) on the acquisition of shares in a company operating a chain of wholesale cash and carry stores under an international brand name.
  • Advised Habib ADM Ltd, listed rice based products manufacturing company, on transfer of shares amongst sponsors.
  • Advised Dot Zero, a venture capital Pakistan fund, on their investments in 3 online startup companies in the automobile and retail sector.
  • Advised Arpatech, a venture capital company on its investments in Sheops, an online womens’ market place and Finox an online business and investing portal.
  • Advising Amazon Data Services Pakistan on all aspects of Pakistani corporate law and regulatory matters.

Expertise

Corporate , Commercial and M&A