White & Case & AZB & Partners Advise Schneider Electric on Its INR 14,000 Crore Acquisition of Larsen & Toubro Electrical & Automation Business

Global law firm White & Case LLP and AZB & Partners have advised Schneider Electric, in partnership with Temasek Holdings Private Limited (Temasek), on its INR 14,000 crore acquisition of Larsen & Toubro Electrical & Automation business.

Schneider Electric, a global player in energy management and automation, successfully completed the transaction combining Larsen & Toubro's Electrical & Automation business and Schneider Electric India's Low Voltage and Industrial Automation Product business on August 31, 2020. Following Schneider Electric's acquisition of Larsen & Toubro's Electrical & Automation business, Schneider Electric and Temasek, Singapore's state investment firm, entered into a consortium for the combined business where both partners made investments in Schneider Electric's wholly owned subsidiary, Schneider Electric India Private Limited, and in a newly created holding entity formed under the laws of Singapore.

Peter Wexler, Senior Vice President & Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Schneider Electric, said, "We are grateful for the support of our global legal and business teams at Schneider Electric, who worked seamlessly together in ten jurisdictions, spanning four continents, in coordination closely with our outside legal partners at White & Case and AZB & Partners."

"With the pandemic and various regulatory changes and government closures around the world, the closing of this transaction was truly a team effort, with our client's expertise and guidance and the support of our global team of talented lawyers in more than ten offices around the world.  This significant transaction further strengthens Schneider Electric's commitment in India, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. This transaction also places India just behind the US and France in its business size for Schneider Electric from the current fifth or sixth position," said White & Case partner Germaine Gurr, who led the Firm's deal team. "This is one of the more complex cross-border deals I have worked on, involved truly a global team effort and it is a great outcome and acquisition for Schneider Electric," said Ashwath Rau, senior partner, who led the AZB team.

White & Case and AZB worked closely together with Schneider Electric's global legal team, who were integral to the transaction, to advise Schneider Electric on this matter.

The Schneider Electric legal team was led by Peter Wexler, Christopher Lee, Kishore Shetty, Ankur Singhal and Bhumika Sood, with support on intellectual property matters provided by Stephen Manetta and Nicole Linehan and with support on corporate governance matters provided by Mary Kibble. The global transaction team was led by Luc Remont, Damini Chaudhari, Santosh Kumar and Deepak Sharma, with the support of countless additional team members based around the world.

The White & Case team that advised on the transaction was led by partner Germaine Gurr (New York), counsel Emilio Grandio (Houston), associate Aaron Raffel (New York), and associate Hannah Craft (Houston); with partners Jacquelyn MacLennan (Brussels), Sami Al-Louzi (Dubai), Arlene Arin Hahn (New York), Jon Bowden (Singapore), Rebecca Farrington, Mark Gidley and Anna Kertesz (all Washington, DC); counsels Aditya Singh (Singapore) and F. Paul Pittman and Tamer Nagy (both Washington, DC); as well as associates Roger Gaspard (Dubai), Joy Chen and Peiwen Chen (both Hong Kong); Chantal Carriere and Chris Hebert (both Houston); Muhammad Fatah (Jakarta), Joshua Butler and Henry Carlson (both Melbourne); Jaymon Ballew, Elle Davis and Aviv Lazar (all New York); Reem Albakr and Joza Al-Rasheed (both Riyadh); Si Wei Chua, Callum Fitzpatrick, Jessica Leung, Trishala Naidu, Ee Lynn Tan and Rob Whitworth (all Singapore); and Alexander Andresian (Washington, DC).

The AZB & Partners team that advised on this included sr. partner Ashwath Rau, partners Jasmin Karkhanis, Atreya Bhattarcharya and Richa Choudhary, sr. associates Pranav Atit, John Raghav and Priyanka Butani, and associates Rachana Rautray, Arpit Sinhal, Pranav Tolani, Sweta Ananthanarayanan and Armaan Srinivasan. Also involved were partner Nandan Pendsey, Esq. and associate Rashmee Kumar on IP; senior partner Nohid Nooreyezdan, sr. associate Priya Parab and associate Jay Shah on real estate issues; and sr. associates Apeksha Mattoo and Rina Goyal on employment aspects.

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