AZB and Billion Dollar deals Zia Mody reported to be advising RIL on LyondellBasell deal

AZB & Partners appears to be the firm to go to for cross-border acquisitions. AZB’s climb to the top of the billion-dollar ladder began with the Tata-Corus acquisition in 2006. Now AZB appears to have bagged the latest billion dollar deal making headlines in the country. Reliance, a long-standing client of AZB, has entered the race to acquire the assets of the bankrupt petrochemicals company, LyondellBasell. Sources indicate that Managing Partner Zia Mody may be advising the Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries on this transaction.

AZB & Partners appears to be the firm to go to for cross-border acquisitions. AZB’s climb to the top of the billion-dollar ladder began with the Tata-Corus acquisition in 2006. The landmark deal saw AZB advise Tata Steel through 9 rounds of bidding against Brazil’s CSN before successfully acquiring the UK steel maker. This takeover heralded the reverse trend of acquisition of western entities by Indian companies. The $12 billion (Rs. 57,000 crore) deal continues to be one of the largest successful acquisitions ever by an Indian conglomerate. Less than a month after the conclusion of the deal, Managing Partner Zia Mody was invited to be on the Board of the City of London’s India Advisory Council.

Following the Corus acquisition, AZB advised the Aditya Birla group company, Hindalco Industries’ buyout of Atlanta-based aluminum firm Novelis for a record $6.4 billion (Rs. 30,000 Crores). In 2007, AZB advised Tata Motors’s $2.3 Billion takeover of Jaguar and Land Rover. The global recession in 2008 briefly halted AZB’s mega-transactions, but the firm came back with a bang in 2009 with several multi-billion dollar deals. In March this year, Partner Abhijit Joshi closed the Tata – Docomo $2.7 Billion (Rs. 13,400 crore) deal.

AZB’s biggest coup, of course, would have been the Bharti-MTN deal. Bharti Airtel’s bid to buy South African telecom giant MTN was valued at a whopping $24 Billion (1,15,000 Crores), with AZB acting as Bharti’s Indian advisors. The AZB team, led by Partners Ajay Bahl and Gautam Saha, structured and restructured multiple documents, but after months of negotiations between the two companies, the deal fell through due to regulatory concerns.

“We are able to assess, identify and protect our client’s interests. We have the expertise and bandwidth to advice on overseas issues. We started about 20 years ago, and over that period we have grown bigger and have instilled confidence in our clients about our abilities,” said Zia Mody, AZB’s managing partner. Shameek Chaudhury, the capital markets Partner at AZB agrees with Zia. He attributes the firm’s success to the expertise of its lawyers. “We are a good firm with good lawyers who do great work, and so we’ve been getting these big deals for quite a while,” he says.

Now, AZB appears to have bagged the latest billion dollar deal making headlines in the country. Reliance, a long-standing client of AZB, has entered the race to acquire the assets of the bankrupt petrochemicals company, LyondellBasell. Sources indicate that Managing Partner Zia Mody may be advising the Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries on this transaction. AZB already handles several overseas transactions for RIL, a fact that came to light when Justice Raveendran recused himself from hearing the RIL-RNRL dispute on the grounds that his daughter, a Partner at AZB, was advising Reliance Industries on global acquisitions and opportunities.

AZB, which has a best friends agreement with Clifford Chance, is ironically on the opposite side of the bidding table. London-based Clifford Chance is serving as the European restructuring counsel to the parent company, reports Am Law. Insolvency Partner Mark Hyde and finance Partner James Butters in London, finance Partner Jelle Hofland in Amsterdam, and M&A Partner Marc Mehlen in Luxembourg are advising LyondellBasell. The firm has billed $2.3 million (Rupees 11.4 Crores) in fees and expenses thus far.

LyondellBasell may prove to be a tough nut to crack for RIL and its lawyers. RIL is only one of several companies bidding for the Dutch manufacturer. There are more than fifteen law firms involved in Lyondell’s bankruptcy proceedings, with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft representing the American arm of the company and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom advising the parent company.

AZB is ideally positioned to advice RIL as it has recently concluded several transactions for the company. In September, Mumbai Partner Shuva Mandal was involved in the sale of RIL treasury stock.