India: M&A/Private Equity

SEMM forms part of the Sanlam group of South Africa, whose ultimate controlling parent, Sanlam Limited, is entirely publicly held. SLIC provides life insurance in India and is held, inter alia, by Shriram Capital Private Limited (‘SCPL’) and SEMM.

UPL is the listed parent of the UPL group. UPL SAS houses the group’s India crop protection business, while the global crop protection business is held under UPL Crop Protection Holdings Limited through indirect subsidiaries including Arysta LifeSciences India Limited.

The CCI unconditionally approved the merger of 51 transferor companies into MGDL, under Section 31(1) of the Act. The proposed combination, structured as a scheme of amalgamation under the Companies Act, 2013, consolidated entities that largely operated under the common ‘Malabar Gold and Diamonds’ brand and under the existing control of MGDL.

The Bangalore bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (‘ITAT’) has held that ESOP expenditure cross-charged by a foreign holding company to its Indian subsidiary is allowable as a deduction under section 37(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 ('Act'). The Tribunal reiterated that ESOP discount constitutes employee compensation and gives rise to an ascertained liability during the vesting period and that the possibility of future forfeiture, non-exercise of options, or issuance of a valuation report after the financial year-end does not render the liability contingent or hypothetical.

The Bengaluru Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal has declined to approve a proposed merger involving four real estate companies under the same promoter group. The decision raises important questions about the requirements and standards for corporate amalgamation schemes under the Companies Act, 2013.

The amendment marks an important shift in India’s restructuring landscape by enabling a wider class of companies to undertake mergers through the Regional Director (“RD”) route, without having to undergo the more elaborate National Company Law Tribunal (“NCLT”) process under Sections 230–232 of the Companies Act.

On 13 July 2026, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed penalties exceeding ₹142 crore on HP India and several reselers under Section 27 of the Competition Act, 2002 (Competition Act) for cartelisation and bid rigging in the sale and supply of HP personal system products, including laptops, desktops, workstations and accessories (Computers Case), and ink and toner cartridges (Cartridges Case). The orders arose from lesser penalty applications filed by HP India under Section 46 of the Competition Act read with the CCI (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2009.

Employee stock options are designed to attract, incentivise, and retain talent. That is how they are presented to the board and described in offer letters. But the moment a company enters an M&A transaction, an arrangement built by the HR function becomes a term the deal lawyers have to price, and it is very often the last term anyone looks at.

In 2008, Daiichi Sankyo paid USD 4.6 billion for control of Ranbaxy. Five years later, Ranbaxy's US subsidiary pleaded guilty to seven federal felony counts and paid USD 500 million; a decade later, Daiichi was still in the Indian courts enforcing an arbitral award against the sellers.