Upendra N Sharma

Upendra’s practice primarily covers mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity, restructuring, corporate commercial, and anti-corruption matters.

Upendra’s vast experience, augmented over the years in representing multinational and domestic corporations, helps him appreciate the nuances of different sectors like manufacturing, real-estate, defence, media-entertainment, IT / ITES, and retail with same vivacity.

His ability to quickly identify the critical issues in a transaction and suggest solutions for the same, has helped him navigate through some of the marque assignments for clients like Anheuser Busch InBev, Pepsi, Cinepolis, JUUL, Magneti Marelli, Avery Dennison, Suzuki, Samsung CT, among several other leading global players.

Upendra’s practice also covers assignments pertaining to white collar crimes, compliance and internal investigations relating to domestic and international anti-corruption laws, including money laundering laws.

In his initial years of practice, Upendra focused on corporate dispute resolution matters as well, which enabled him to appreciate the practical complexities involved in joint ventures, strategic alliances, shareholders disputes, licensing issues and white-collar crimes. Such enriching experience helps him provide a pragmatic and fully compliant advise.

• Advised JSW Cement Limited in the 100% acquisition of Springway Mining Private Limited’s limestone bearing land in Madhya Pradesh.
• Advised AB Volvo in its joint venture with Eicher Motors Limited for the manufacture of commercial vehicles in India.
• Advised Dentsu Inc (a Japanese media and advertising company which is the market leader in Japan and has a global network spanning the Americas, Europe and Russia, Asia and North Africa), in relation to its joint venture in India.
• Advised Philips India Limited and its affiliates in relation to Philips’ acquisition of the business of Curapy Health Private Limited (Curapy), including the ‘Uvi Health’ app operated by Curapy, and several other mandates across general corporate and commercial matters.

• Advised Hines India (a leading real estate private equity fund), as a precursor to sale of 50% shares of a joint venture company of Hines India and DLF (one of the biggest real estate developers in India), owning a premium commercial building situated in Gurugram. Assisted in identifying the issues in the underlying historical joint venture documents in relation to the development and title of developed building. There were significant and complicated issues relating to stamp duty aspects and the Director Town and Country Planning, Haryana (DTCP) regulations.
• Advising Claridges Group, a prominent business house in the hospitality sector, in connection with development of a special township project on a parcel of land admeasuring approximately 300 acres in the vicinity of Mumbai. Scope of work includes, conducting due diligence of land, structuring of the investment, advising on requisite approvals required to undertake the proposed project.
• Assisted Hines India in relation to acquisition of a prime piece of land admeasuring approximately 12 acres, situated at Udyog Vihar, Gurugram. As a part of the assignment, we advised the client on various aspects of Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (HSIIDC) policies for allotment, terms and conditions for the development of the project, related advice on the joint venture agreement between Hines India and DLF; and finalization and execution of the conveyance deed. The land will be used for developing a premium commercial project.

• Advised Actis Capital in its investment in Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Limited, a leading manufacturer of cement and sugar in India.
• Advised Brahma Management, a US based private equity fund, in relation to its various proposed investments in India
• Advised BTS Investment Advisors in a ` 360 million investment in a Delhi based company,
• Acted as legal advisors to CX Partners in an approximately ` 1.56 billion Private Equity investment in a Delhi based company, Matrix Cellular International Private Limited (Matrix). Matrix is one of the leading players in renting of international roaming subscriber identification module cards (commonly known as SIM Cards). The transaction involved both primary and secondary investment (including a complete buy out of an existing shareholder). Post the closing of the transaction, CX holds approximately 38.63% in the equity paid up capital of Matrix.

• Practice Diploma in International Mergers & Acquisitions – IBA & The College of Law of England & Wales
• Practice Diploma in International Capital Markets and Loans – IBA & The College of Law of England & Wales