Khaitan & Co has advised an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management and certain other investors on their investment in the unrated, unlisted, secured, zero coupon, redeemable, non-convertible debentures issued by Porteast Investment Private Limited, a member of Shapoorji Pallonji Group, for an amount up to INR 28,600 crores (approx. USD 3.3 billion) for the purpose of refinancing the existing debt of group entities. The proposed issuance is secured, amongst others, by a pledge over 9.185% of the issued and paid-up equity share capital of Tata Sons Private Limited, along with the hypothecation of assets and pledge over the shares of the issuer and other group companies. The debentures are also backed by guarantees and credit support undertakings from group entities of Shapoorji Pallonji Group. This bond issuance marks the largest deal in the private credit space in India.
The core deal team consisted of Kumar Saurabh Singh (Partner), Ahana Sinha (Partner), Manas Pandey (Manas Pandey), Akash Mukherjee (Associate) and Kartikey G (Associate) with assistance from:
Corporate law: Kartick Maheshwari, Tanushree Bhuwalka and Vivek Badkur
Real estate law: Amruta Joshi, Rahul Sunil Agarwal, Nupur Antrolikar and Snehil Singhvi
Funds: Divaspati Singh and Chirayu S Heddthale
Competition law: Soham Banerjee.
