SAM, AZB bag Facebook’s mega-record-setting $5.7bn Jio investment with HogLov, DP + 3

SAM bagged the mandate for Facebook and AZB for Reliance on India’s largest ever foreign-direct investment in a tech company, which values Reliance’s Jio Platform subsidiary at Rs 4.62 lakh crore (or nearly $66bn), with Mark Zuckerberg’s US technology giant buying itself a 9.9% stake in Jio Platforms Limited.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) acted for Facebook on Indian law issues, led by partnerDelhi Raghubir Menon, with partnersSakshi Mehra and Natashaa Shroff on the transactional side with principal associateDeepa Rekha. The competition law team included partnersNaval Chopra and Yaman Verma.

AZB & Partners acted for Reliance Industries, led by Mumbai-based partnerAshwath Rau, also including partnerNilanjana Singh and associatesSidhant Chandalia, Amitabh Robin Singh, Kanika Mishra and Vyjayanthi Raghu. Competition law advice was provided by partnerBharat Budholia and senior associateGaurav Bansal.

US firm Hogan Lovells advised Facebook on US law, including Silicon Valley-based partnerJane Ross.

Reliance Industries relied on US firm Davis Polk & Wardwell led by London-based partnerJeffrey O’Brien and including California-based partnerAlan Denenberg for non-Indian legal issues.

Apart from its in-house team, Facebook is also understood to have briefed foreign law firms Gibson Dunn, White & Case and Fenwick & West.

Earlier this year, J Sagar Associates (JSA) had advised Facebook on a $110m Series E investment into Unacademy, according to our deals database.

Reliance, meanwhile, had used a raft of law firms in 2019-20, ranging from Khaitan & Co, to K Law and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (and Slaughter and May for international work on its buy of Hamleys).

AZB had also been a favourite of Reliance’s in the 2018-19 financial year, with six out of 10 reported mandates having gone to the firm.

Article to be updated with more information on teams.

Reliance Industries Limited, Jio Platforms Limited and Facebook, Inc. today announced the signing of binding agreements for an investment of ₹ 43,574 crore by Facebook into Jio Platforms. — Mint

So it’s confirmed: Facebook has bought 9.9% stake in Jio Platforms Limited, the parent company of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, for $5.7 billion (Rs 43,574 crore). Reliance Jio Infocomm claims over 388 million Internet subscribers in India, and is the country’s largest Internet Service Provider, accounting for more than half of its over 635 million Internet connections. — Medianama

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