Global Warming: Investment Options

Being Cool: Investment Opportunities and Policy Imperatives to Combat Global Warming

Recent studies find that a steady rise in temperature across India will significantly impact socioeconomic productivity and GDP growth. Importantly, heat-related stress produces corresponding cooling demands. In this regard, the World Bank recently identified opportunities for the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) to encourage private investment in key sectors, such as space cooling in buildings, cold chain and refrigeration, passenger transport air-conditioning, as well as refrigerants. Nevertheless, such investments may be constrained by the country’s international obligations, such as those in respect of HCFCs and HFCs. Besides, India’s climate mitigation strategy, including its thrust towards renewable energy and decarbonization, remains inadequate by itself. Emissions from short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) need to be addressed as well. Accordingly, strategic investments in innovative ventures, such as seaweed start-ups that focus on reducing agricultural methane, can be explored further. In addition, the waste and agricultural commodities sectors, along with their critical interface with technology, may be significantly scaled up in the next few years.


rules of overseas investment

Liberalized Rules for Overseas Investment by Indian Entities: Laying the “Round Tripping” Ghost to Rest (or not just yet)

Although the objectives of the erstwhile restriction on “round tripping” were laudable, such restriction had an unintended chilling effect on legitimate transactions. The new overseas investment regime introduced in August 2022 eases such restriction to a large extent. However, certain interpretational issues remain.


Indian Renewables

How Green is Your Money? Capitalizing on Indian Renewables

Consistent with India’s ambitious climate-related targets, significant investments are being made in the domestic renewable energy sector, driven largely by private sector activity. Acquisitions and bonds represent a large portion of this capital, along with foreign equity, traditional loans, and mezzanine financing. Enabled by an encouraging FDI regime as well as locally-targeted regulatory schemes – such as incentives introduced by the government to bolster domestic capacity and manufacturing – self-sufficiency and foreign capital now constitute an integrated ecosystem. Along with conventional means of financing, newer frameworks such as infrastructure investment trusts specifically set up in the renewables space could be better explored in the future, especially in light of the urgency with which India needs to catch up towards its climate targets. Legislative changes in respect of the power markets – such as those related to trading in renewable energy certificates (RECs) – may also be curated by appropriate regulatory bodies to expand upon existing revenue streams.


Material Adverse Effect

Renewed Spotlight on Material Adverse Effect Clauses following Covid-19 and the Musk-Twitter Dispute

Material Adverse Effect (“MAE”) clauses are once again in focus with the recent Musk-Twitter dispute arising from the termination of the transaction related to the acquisition of Twitter on MAE grounds. This note discusses certain issues relating to MAE clauses from a practical perspective in an M&A setting and how these clauses have been interpreted by courts in the past.


IPL franchise

Transactions involving IPL Franchises: Legal Due Diligence

With the recent auction and sale of media rights of the Indian Premier League (“IPL”) by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (“BCCI”) for over INR 480 billion (approximately USD  6 billion), IPL franchises are in the spotlight. Reports suggest that certain IPL franchise owners may look to capitalize on an improved valuation, and either sell a part (or all) of their shareholding in the legal entity that has bid for and owns the IPL franchise, or may even consider a public listing of such legal entity.  In this note, we look at key legal due diligence issues that may arise in connection with transactions involving IPL franchises.


Private Equity in Sports Franchises in India

With the recent expansion of the IPL to include two new teams, CVC Capital Partners, a leading international private equity firm, acquired the Ahmedabad franchise – this is the first instance of a significant private equity investment in professional sports in India. We discuss the opportunities and potential challenges that lie ahead for private equity investment in sports franchises in the attached note.


data centers in india

Legal Considerations for Investments in Data Centres in India

With the continuing focus on digitisation accelerated by Covid lockdowns and rising demand for sustainability and green goals, there is an increase in activity relating to data centres for operators and investors as well as policymakers and regulators. In order to attract investment in data centres in India with a vision “to make India a global data centre hub”, the new Government policies intend to provide various incentives and exemptions to promote data centre industry growth. In the recent past, several multinational and domestic companies have set up data centres in India. Given the focus on data localization, there appears to be significant potential for growth for the data centres industry. In this background, the Government’s move to grant ‘infrastructure’ status to data centres and introduce a national data centre policy are welcome measures which will promote investments in data centres in India. In addition, two other policy initiatives announced in the budget speech which are expected to incentivize data centre investments are the 5G spectrum auction and the widening footprint of optical fibre.


PNB Housing Finance: The (Missing?) Registered Valuer Report

On June 15, we had written about a proposed preferential issue by PNB Housing Finance, in respect of which a proxy advisor issued a report asking public shareholders to vote against the proposed investment. As an alternative to a preferential issue, the report suggested that the company should have considered a “rights issue”. In our previous article, we considered a “rights issue” and a “preferential issue” from the perspective of certainty in funding, disclosure obligations, approvals and timelines and pricing.

The debate has since focused on whether the proposed preferential issue required a report of a registered valuer and whether such a report was in fact procured. In this article, we consider the legal framework around which the debate turns, comprising the SEBI ICDR Regulations, the Companies Act and PNB Housing Finance’s articles of association.


Corporate Governance

Corporate Governance and the case of PNB Housing Finance

Recently PNB Housing Finance announced a “preferential issue” of shares, through which the Carlyle Group will acquire a controlling interest in the company. A proxy advisor has issued a report asking public shareholders to vote against the proposed investment. The report argues that the price at which Carlyle will be investing in the company belies the company’s true value. As an alternative to a preferential issue, the report suggests that the company should have considered a “rights issue” in which all shareholders will be entitled to participate. In this context, it is important to consider whether a preferential issue and a rights issue are, in fact, comparable options for fundraising and accordingly, if there is merit in the allegation of poor corporate governance that has been levelled against the target company’s board of directors.


Defining Control: Future Retail vs. Amazon

The recent interpretation of “control” by the High Court of Delhi in a litigation between Future Retail and Amazon has once again focused attention on the perennial question of what constitutes control. As described in more detail in the note, this question cannot be considered in abstract; it must be considered in the context of a specific legislation or policy and the objective it seeks to achieve. The relevant provisions of the FDI policy, which provide the context in this case, may not have been correctly appreciated.