Trilegal advised Blackstone, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Anchorage Scheme on CCI approval for USD 1.2 billion investment in Neysa Networks
The leading law firm in India, Trilegal advised Blackstone Inc. (lead investor), Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, and Anchorage Scheme in relation to securing unconditional approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the acquisition of a controlling stake in Neysa Networks pursuant to a USD 1.2 billion investment.
The transaction sits at the intersection of private equity, digital infrastructure, and artificial intelligence, reflecting the increasing deployment of institutional capital into platforms enabling compute-intensive AI workloads. Neysa Networks operates across cloud infrastructure and AI-led solutions, positioning itself within a rapidly evolving segment characterised by convergence across infrastructure and application layers.
The approval is among the first competition law clearances in India involving an AI-focused infrastructure platform and required a forward-looking approach to market definition and competitive assessment. The analysis involved a granular review of horizontal overlaps and vertical linkages across cloud infrastructure, data centre services, and AI tools and solutions.
Given the nascency of the sector, the team engaged closely with the regulator to contextualise market structure, evolving demand patterns, and dynamic interfaces across the AI stack. The filing proactively addressed potential theories of harm, including foreclosure and concentration concerns, and set out a framework for assessing competition in emerging technology markets.
On the matter, Gauri Chhabra (Partner, Competition Practice at Trilegal) said,
“Transactions in AI infrastructure sit at the intersection of rapidly evolving technology stacks and emerging regulatory frameworks. This required us to move beyond conventional market definitions and analyse how infrastructure, platforms, and applications interact in practice. The clearance reflects a pragmatic approach to assessing competition in fast-evolving technology markets, particularly where scale-up and innovation are still in early stages.”
The Competition Law aspects of the transaction were handled by the Trilegal Competition Practice team led by Gauri Chhabra (Partner), supported by Eesha Sheth (Senior Associate), Ujwala Adikey (Senior Associate), Anjana Ravikumar (Associate), Shobhit Shukla (Associate), and Shreya Chaudhary (Associate).
The Corporate Practice team was led by Amit Khansaheb (Partner) and Rahul Chugh (Partner), with support from Siddhant Maheshwari (Counsel), Kriti Chatrath (Senior Associate), Navya Bhayana (Associate), and Samridhi Poddar (Associate).
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