Luthra, Slaughter, AZB, Links sell RBS India arms to Ratnakar bank for $74m

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Monday, 12 August 2013 By Legally India Corporate M&A

AZB, Luthra, Links & Slaughters sell off Indian RBS assets to Ratnakar bank.

Luthra & Luthra and Slaughter & May advised India’s smallest commercial bank Ratnakar bank, which reportedly outbid five bigger rivals to acquire the Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) business banking, credit cards and mortgage portfolios in India for less than Rs 450 crore. RBS was advised by AZB & Partners and Linklaters.

Luthra & Luthra Mumbai partners Bikash Jhawar and Amit Shetye and Slaughter & May Hong Kong partner David Watkins acted for Ratnakar bank which, according to Mint, signed the agreement on Friday after outbidding Yes Bank, Axis Bank, ING Vysya, Federal Bank and IndusInd Bank.

AZB Mumbai partner Ashwin Ramanathan and Linklaters Hong Kong partner Matthew Middleditch acted for RBS which is shutting 21 of its 31 branches in India, and had put the three Indian units on sale in November 2012 after a plan to sell them to Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp collapsed, Mint reported.

The funds backing Ratnakar bank include HDFC, Norwest Venture Partners, Aditya Birla Private Equity and Samara Capital, according to the Business Standard.

Comments

acapulko 12 Aug 2013, 12:22

+2 -2

Amit Shetye is now a partner and not a managing associate......

kianganz 12 Aug 2013, 12:23

+3 -0

Thank you, and apologies for the error.

AZB replacing TT&A 12 Aug 2013, 14:22

+7 -2

TT&A acted for RBS in the RBS-HSBC (aborted) deal. Wonder why did Links brief AZB on this one? As far as RBS was concerned, it was the same deal (both commercial and legal) - albeit with minor tweaks - as the HSBC one. Then why would they not go with TT&A, and use their experience, this time around?

Makes one think, did TT&A's advice on the HSBC deal have anything to do with the deal being aborted?

You think? 13 Aug 2013, 12:06

+3 -4

You think RBS went to AZB for more..."liberal" advice?!

How do we know it was the "same deal (both commercial and legal)"?

... 12 Aug 2013, 15:39

+4 -1

That's fine, he was a managing associate for a major part of the transaction... He became partner only last week

anon 12 Aug 2013, 16:22

+1 -0

Good stuff amit.

Guest 13 Aug 2013, 09:20

+2 -0

Solid deal!

HA! 14 Aug 2013, 06:08

So... "India’s smallest commercial bank"..

Now wait a minute...

Didn't Luthra - in their huge strategy announcement, indicate that they would not be doing work for the small guys??

Looks like they backtracked already... back to square one....

Guest 21 Aug 2013, 09:30

+0 -0

[quote name="HA!"]So... "India’s smallest commercial bank"..

Now wait a minute...

Didn't Luthra - in their huge strategy announcement, indicate that they would not be doing work for the small guys??

Looks like they backtracked already... back to square one....[/quote]

This deal had closed before the strategy change

HA HA ! 21 Aug 2013, 16:45

Smallest "bank" would be larger than a lot of large companies

green lantern 14 Aug 2013, 15:45

+1 -1

most firms can't have lofty strategies such as "only for big guys" in this weak market. anyone who talks of a "strategy" is fooling himself or who he is talking to, often both.

Anon 16 Aug 2013, 07:20

Do you really think this business was won and executed after the Luthra announced new strategy? Anyway, from what I read LL said they will not want to compete on basis of price alone and how low can one quote to win a mandate.

That's very different from what people want to read it to be. Clearly some guys are working overtime to bring Luthra down! My suggestion: get substance in your campaign.

Not really 20 Aug 2013, 07:21

[quote name="Anon"]Do you really think this business was won and executed after the Luthra announced new strategy? Anyway, from what I read LL said they will not want to compete on basis of price alone and how low can one quote to win a mandate.

That's very different from what people want to read it to be. Clearly some guys are working overtime to bring Luthra down! My suggestion: get substance in your campaign.[/quote]

A look at the previous article Re: Promotions and their new strategy, and the multitude of comments therein would clearly show the real picture. Who needs others when you can accomplish the task yourself!

Anonymous 28 Aug 2013, 10:30

Had the pleasure of working with Bikash and Amit - solid team, good people - well done guys.

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