Obhan advises Penguin on Rs 55 cr Indian JV buy-out ahead of Random House mega-merger with Freshfields, Slaughters

Monday, 23 September 2013 By Legally India Corporate M&A

Obhan & Associates acted for publisher Penguin Random House in its purchase of Ananda Publishers’ stake in Penguin Books India.

Obhan & Associates has advised publisher Penguin Random House in its purchase of Ananda Publishers’ stake in Penguin Books India.

Ananda was advised by Kolkata-based lawyer Avijit Deb.

Obhan partner Ashima Obhan, who had joined the firm in 2011 from AZB & Partners, and associate Anirudha Mitra acted for Penguin.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) cleared the deal in early September, clearing the way to conclude the India leg of Penguin’s global merger with Germany’s Bertelsmann-owned Random House, said Obhan.

Ananda had a 45 per cent stake in the joint venture, reported The Hindu Businessline.

On the global merger Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Penguin-owner Pearson, with Obhan assisting on the India leg of the deal including domestic competition approvals. Morgan Lewis & Bockius acted for Pearson in the US, reported The Lawyer.

UK firm Slaughter and May and US firm Davis Polk & Wardwell are acting for Bertelsmann.

Photo by Martin Burns

Comments

Guest 23 Sept 2013, 10:13

+3 -1

The title to this article can be easily termed offensive as it is impossible to infer any meaning. Why can't LI keep normal titles, this is not facebook, LI's aim I am sure is not to collect likes.

kianganz 23 Sept 2013, 10:18

+1 -1

Sorry, can you please explain which part is offensive about this headline?

Guest 23 Sept 2013, 10:52

+2 -1

Its offensive to senses, you cant make head or tail out of it. Normal angrezi likh do

kianganz 23 Sept 2013, 10:55

+4 -1

Granted, it's a bit long, but dunno if it's as bad as that for a lawyer probably used to reading far worse in contracts... ;)

Guest2 23 Sept 2013, 11:27

[quote name="kianganz"]Granted, it's a bit long, but dunno if it's as bad as that for a lawyer probably used to reading far worse in contracts... ;)[/quote]

Is Random House entering into a mega-merger with Freshfields and Slaughters? :)

kianganz 23 Sept 2013, 11:28

+1 -2

That sounds unlikely... :)

Guest 23 Sept 2013, 12:39

+0 -0

[quote name="kianganz"]Granted, it's a bit long, but dunno if it's as bad as that for a lawyer probably used to reading far worse in contracts... ;)[/quote]
http://barandbench.com/content/obhan-associates-and-avijit-deb-act-ananda-bazar-patrika%E2%80%99s-exit-penguin-india#.UkA2N9KNl6w ....what actually happened.

GP Singh 24 Sept 2013, 10:40

+1 -0

[b]@ Guest:[/b] You mean the boring B&B report? To add insult to injury, that's now a "[i]pay for news[/i]" site - at least partially.

[b]@ Kian:[/b] These poor sods have either pea-brain$ or little clue about the legal market. Notwithstanding the absurdity of the interpretation, they constructed the headline to mean "Random House entering into a mega-merger with Freshfields and Slaughters"! ROFL. Keep headlines that suit you; just don't make this a "pay for news" site :)

The Great Intern 23 Sept 2013, 15:20

Nothing wrong with the headline. I'm surprised that the critics failed to catch the problem - missing commas...:)

Guest 24 Sept 2013, 05:07

headlines should ideally not have punctuation marks

Really 25 Sept 2013, 09:29

Why do you say that B&B is a paid site and how do you know that LI is not?

Commenting is closed for this article.