Indian law firm Trilegal and DLA Piper advised HCL Technologies and its subsidiary, HCL America, in its recent USD500 million overseas bond offering, which had the highest rated credit from India to date.
Talwar Thakore & Associates, another Indian firm, and Linklaters advised the joint bookrunners to the issue. The bonds, which were allotted on 10 March, were issued by HCL America and are guaranteed by the NSE and BSE-listed HCL Technologies.
Trilegal’s team in Mumbai was led by partner Bhakta Patnaik, who heads the firm’s capital markets practice, and comprised counsel Brajendu Bhaskar and Albin George Thomas, and associates Arjun Rastogi, Saumya Satwara and Aditya Dsouza. Partner Himanshu Sinha in New Delhi, counsel Komal Dani in Mumbai and associate Hardeep Singh Chawla in New Delhi provided tax advice.
DLA Piper’s team was led by its Singapore-based partner, Philip Lee, who heads its debt capital markets practice for Asia-Pacific, with support from international deputy chair of the India group, Meraj Noor. They were assisted by associates Chan Mei Sum, Andhari Sidharta and Karen Lee. US-based partners Rachel Paris and Drew Young also advised.
Lee said the issue would put the client “in a good position to access the global markets more easily and pave the way for similar deals by other global and regional tech companies, particularly those from India”.
Noor added that, despite a challenging macro environment due to the pandemic, the transaction demonstrated the resilience of India’s IT services sector, and the investor appetite for Indian credit.
Talwar Thakore & Associates’ team in Mumbai comprised partners Rahul Gulati and Priyanka Kumar, senior associate Saara Ahmed, and associates Ankeeta Parhi, Upasana P, and Namrata Roy.
Linklaters’ team in Singapore comprised partners Amit Singh, who heads the firm’s capital markets practice in South and Southeast Asia, and Michele Discepola and counsel Lim Xunming.
The rule 144A/Reg S offering of senior unsecured notes carry a 1.375% coupon and are listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. The proceeds of the issue are to be used to refinance the company’s existing debts, and for meeting its working capital requirements.
