Veritas Legal advised BSE and NSE-listed Aegis Logistics when it agreed on a ₹27.6 billion (USD 357.5 million) investment from Euronext Amsterdam-listed Royal Vopak towards the creation of a joint venture, Aegis Vopak Terminals, and the acquisition by Vopak of a 24% stake in Hindustan Aegis LPG. Khaitan & Co advised Vopak.
The deal was announced on 13 July and is expected to close early in 2022.
“One of the more interesting aspects was the planning out of the restructuring of different businesses housed in different entities in the simplest and most efficient way, keeping in mind the fact that Vopak is an overseas partner, and both Aegis and Vopak are listed entities,” Veritas Legal partner Kunal Doshi told India Business Law Journal. Senior associate Kanisha Vora and associates Tanay Chopra and Vritti Shah assisted Doshi with the deal.
Khaitan & Co’s team comprised partner Vivek Sriram, senior associates Gargi Bohra and Kaushik Babu, and associates Agranee Kapoor and Stephanie Nazareth. Partner Anisha Chand, senior associate Soham Banerjee and associate Anmol Awasthi assisted with competition law advice, director Vinita Krishnan and principal associate Raghav Bajaj assisted on tax matters, and associate Siddesh Biyani helped with due diligence.
Following the deal Vopak’s subsidiary in India, CRL Terminals, will become a subsidiary of Aegis Vopak Terminals, in which Vopak will have a 49% stake. In addition, Hindustan Aegis LPG, which is currently a joint venture between Aegis – which owns and operates terminals for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), petroleum products and chemicals at various locations in India – and a subsidiary of Japan’s Itochu Corporation, will be jointly owned by Aegis, Itochu and Vopak.
Aegis Vopak Terminals will operate terminals in five ports along the east and west coast of India, while Hindustan Aegis LPG is developing an LPG import terminal at Haldia port in West Bengal.
