Luthra & Luthra advised India’s largest multiplex operator PVR in its Rs 1,000 crore ($168m) contract with online ticketing platform BookMyShow to sell PVR tickets across its web and mobile applications over the next five years. BookMyShow’s owner Big Tree Entertainment was advised by BMR Advisors.

Luthra & Luthra partner Aparna Mittal led the PVR legal team with associates Hina Doon and Shreya Mukherjee in drafting and negotiating the ticketing agreement and other transaction documents. Partners Sanjeev Sachdeva and SR Patnaik advised on tax-related aspects of the deal, while managing associate Karan Chandhiok provided competition law advice.

The firm wrote in an emailed statement: “Given the strategic nature of the alliance between the parties, and the extremely intricate and complex commercial structure of the deal, the team was required to consistently innovate and devise complicated and novel legal and commercial constructs - and draft unique and elaborate transaction documents.

“Further, the transaction took nearly four months of dedicated round the clock work and entailed extensive and protracted strong negotiations between the parties.”

BMR Legal partner Amit Khansaheb acted for Big Tree Entertainment on the strategic alliance which was the largest ever in the online space in India, reported the Economic Times, which added that this is the first time PVR opened its ticketing to third-party vendors.

Photo by Fruits-India