Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas advises News Corporation in acquisition of majority controlling interest of Oku Tech Private Limited by Elara Technologies Pte. Ltd.

May 22, 2019

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM & Co) has advised News Corporation in an acquisition of majority controlling interest of Oku Tech Private Limited, by Elara Technologies Pte. Ltd. NWS Digital Asia Pte. Limited (NWS), an affiliate of News Corporation is the largest shareholder in Elara.

The transaction included a share swap between Elara and non-resident shareholders of Oku Tech, along with the inclusion of protective mechanisms to allow the continuing Oku Tech shareholders to exercise exit rights upon occurrence of liquidation events at the Elara level.

The shareholders of the Oku Tech includes CA Asia Internet Fund II LP; IMJ IP Global III; Lightspeed India Partners I, LLC; Potrero I Mauritius Private Limited; Tekton Ventures; Vpoku LLC; Vpoku LLC; Rajeev Chopra; Pallav Pandey; Mukul Kumar; and 3F Ventures Management Consultants LLP.

The General Corporate practice group at SAM & Co acted as legal counsel to News Corporation and were involved in inter-alia, structuring the transaction, reviewing, and negotiation of the transaction documents.

The transaction team from SAM & Co included Mr. Aayush Kapoor, Partner; Ms. Vasundhara Garg, Principal Associate; Ms. Aakanksha Dalal, Senior Associate.

Other parties involved were L&L Partners for Elara, Allen and Gledhill LLP as Singapore counsel of NWS Digital Asia Pte., Joycelaw as counsel for Oku Tech Private Limited and Link Legal India Law Services for Lightspeed India Partners I, LLC.

The deal value is approximately INR 100 crores. The date of signing was March 28, 2019 and the date of closing was April 1, 2019.