Sidley acted as special counsel to 13 lead managers in connection with the US$625 million initial public offering of units of Mindspace Business Parks REIT pursuant to Section 4(a) and Regulation S of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933. The managers included Morgan Stanley India Company Private Limited, Axis Capital Limited, DSP Merrill Lynch Limited, Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited, JM Financial Limited, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited, CLSA India Private Limited, Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Private Limited, UBS Securities India Private Limited, Ambit Capital Private Limited, HDFC Bank Limited, IDFC Securities Limited, and ICICI Securities Limited.
This offering is India’s second real estate investment trust (REIT) offering and the second largest equity fund raise by a real estate entity in over 10 years. This is also the first REIT initial public offering (IPO) that included an offer for sale component. In addition to certain U.S. federal securities law issues and U.S. Investment Company Act and Employee Retirement Income Security Act matters, Sidley advised the underwriters in relation to Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive issues in the European Union.
The multi-office Sidley team was led by partners Manoj Bhargava (Singapore) and Ankit Kashyap (Singapore), with support from partners Jason A. Friedhoff (New York), Nicholas R. Brown (New York), and Leonard Ng (London); counsel Carla G. Teodoro (New York); associates Rémi D. Gagnon (New York) and Qalid Mohamed (London); staff attorney Ravina Mahajan (Singapore); and trainee solicitors Zahira Butt (London) and Noel Li (London).