Photo of Avani Dalal

Senior Associate in the General Corporate Practice at the Ahmedabad office of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. Avani specializes in general corporate advisory, including inbound and outbound investments, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, business transfers and private equity. She can be reached at avani.dalal@cyrilshroff.com

Role of IFSC in the Indian SPAC Dream

In part 2 of this series of blogs (Key Features IFSC Lisiting Regulations in Relation to Listing of SPACs), we touched upon the newly-introduced framework for the issuance and listing of special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) at the International Financial Services Centres (“IFSC”) under the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Issuance and Listing of Securities) Regulations, 2021 (“IFSC Listing Regulations”). In this part of the blog we are going to look at the IFSC Listing Regulations with a critical eye to detect the gaps that continue to exist despite the framework being put in place and identify areas that can be improved upon to leverage the unique status of entities in IFSC.Continue Reading Role of IFSC in the Indian SPAC Dream: An Overview – Part 3

Role of IFSC in the Indian SPAC Dream: An Overview – Part 2

In part 1 of this series of blogs (Role of IFSC in Indian SPAC Dream- An Overview), we succinctly summarised the various dimensions of IFSCs, viz. their ‘foreign territory’ status in India, applicable laws and regulation and the development of regulatory regime for special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) listings therein.Continue Reading Role of IFSC in the Indian SPAC Dream: An Overview – Part 2

Role of IFSC in the Indian SPAC Dream

India, being one of the major consumers of international financial services, has been pushing the envelope on making itself the hub for such services. With this objective, the Government of India had operationalised India’s first (and currently the only) International Financial Services Centre (“IFSC”) at GIFT Multi Services Special Economic Zone (“SEZ”) in Gujarat in April 2015. In this regard and to further this objective, the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act was enacted in December 2019 to set up a unified regulator, viz the International Financial Services Centres Authority (“IFSCA”), which commenced operation in October 2020. The IFSCA has been vested with the roles and powers of four domestic regulators, namely the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”), the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (“IRDAI”), and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. IFSCA has been set up to develop and regulate financial institutions, financial services, and financial products within the IFSCs in India.Continue Reading Role of IFSC in the Indian SPAC Dream: An Overview – Part 1

USING SPAC VEHICLES AS A MEANS OF LISTING OUTSIDE INDIA

An overview 

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”) have made a comeback on the Wall Street. SPACs are essentially investment companies backed by sponsors to raise capital from the public in an initial public offering (“IPO”) in the USA for the sole purpose of using the proceeds to acquire targets that are to be identified after the IPO. The eventual objective is to list the target. As of July 31, 2020, SPACs have raised close to USD 24 billion globally this year. The buzz around SPACs with available funding has reached Indian shores on the possibility of Indian companies being potential SPAC targets or Indian companies teaming up with SPACs to potentially list themselves in overseas markets.
Continue Reading Using SPAC Vehicles as a Means of Listing Outside India

Gujarat Industrial Policy 2020 A Renewed Focus on Attracting Investment

 

­­­­­­­­­The Indian economy has not been immune to the side-effects of COVID-19, particularly as far as the healthcare and financial systems are concerned. Amidst such global economic turbulence, the Indian government has made efforts to boost the economy by announcing a significant economic stimulus package under the Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) scheme. Many state governments in India have also swung into action to incentivise investment and capitalise on the opportunity offered by the pandemic, wherein several global businesses heavily dependent on China are reconsidering their business continuity plans and looking at alternative manufacturing bases.

Gujarat has a distinct advantage in this area on account of its pro-business government initiatives, conducive business ecosystem and progressive infrastructure. The Government of Gujarat (“GoG”) is continuously pushing for reforms and has rolled out the red carpet to foreign investors looking to invest in the state, resulting in the state receiving the highest national increment of 240% in FDI inflows in financial year 2019-20 compared to the previous year.[1]
Continue Reading Gujarat Industrial Policy 2020: A Renewed Focus on Attracting Investment

FDI in Brownfield Pharma – Will COVID-19 be the catalyst for policy reforms

The pharma sector has gained renewed global attention due to the crisis brought about by COVID-19, a pandemic having an unprecedented impact on health and wellbeing of citizens across geographical boundaries. It is estimated that around 76 pharma companies across the world are in a race to develop and mass-produce an effective vaccine in the fight against COVID-19[1]. Indian pharma companies too are playing a vital role in this search.[2] The Indian pharmaceutical industry has responded to the rapid challenges arising from disruption in supply chains and is working in an integrated manner to drive local expertise by production and export of essential formulation to countries across the globe, and live up to its title as the ‘Pharmacy of the World’.
Continue Reading FDI in Brownfield Pharma – Will COVID-19 be the Catalyst for Policy Reforms?