Trilegal, AZB, Latham, SAM, CMS INDUSLAW act on CRED securing $900 million from Meta

Dreamplug Technologies Private Limited, dba CRED, has secured $900 million (approximately ₹8,550 crore) in a Series H fundraise from Meta, comprising a combination of primary subscription and secondary acquisition of shares from existing shareholders.

As part of the transaction, Kunal Shah, the founder of CRED, while continuing as a minority shareholder, will cease to be involved in the day-to-day management and operations of CRED. He will join Meta in a global leadership role to lead WhatsApp.

Trilegal advised CRED on this fundraise, as well as Kunal Shah on his transition. The Firm advised on all aspects of the transaction, including structuring, negotiation and documentation of the transaction documents, advising on the transition of Kunal Shah to Meta, regulatory considerations of CRED Group, satisfaction of conditions precedent, and closing of the transaction.

The transaction was led by Amit Khansaheb (Partner) and Nikhil Sachdeva (Partner), with support from Narayan Gupta (Counsel), Sindhujaa Nayak (Senior Associate), C.N. Yashwanth (Senior Associate) and Sidharth Sankar Pattnaik (Associate).

Aparna Mehra (Partner), with support from Kshitij Sharma (Counsel) and Karan Arora (Senior Associate) advised on Competition Law aspects.

AZB & Partners advised Meta on this transaction.

The transaction was led by Nandish Vyas (Senior Partner), with support from Karun Jhangiani (Senior Associate), Anish Patel (Senior Associate), Associates Aditya Agarwal, Freya Irani and Shraddha Sethia.

Aditya Singh Chandel (Senior Partner), Shruti KP (Partner), Suhail Bansal (Senior Associate) and Akshay Jain (Associate) advised on Tax law aspects.

Ram Kumar Poornachandran (Senior Partner), Dinoo Muthappa (Partner), Vayashnavi Ganesh (Senior Associate) and Anjali Kumar (Senior Associate) advised on anti-trust law aspects.

Latham & Watkins served as the international legal counsel for Meta on this transaction.

The transaction team consisted of Saad Khanani (Partner) and Jennifer Cadet (Counsel).

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co advised six investors on selling their stakes to Meta.

A transaction team led by Raghubir Menon (Partner, Regional Practice Head - M&A and Private Equity, General Corporate) and Anirban Bhattacharya (Partner), advised shareholders Peak XV Partners, Coatue, DST Global, Alpha Wave Global, and GIC.

A transaction team led by Pooja Sondhi (Partner) and Manita Doshi (Partner) advised Tiger Global.

SAM, which counts Meta among its long-standing clients, sat this one out, as the firm is acting for six investors exiting in the $400 million secondary component of the deal, creating a conflict that pushed Meta to look elsewhere. AZB & Partners has stepped in as Meta's Indian counsel on the transaction.

CMS INDUSLAW advised Ribbit Capital, another investor in CRED, on this transaction.

The transaction team was led by Winnie Shekhar (Partner).

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