Round table on contemporary issues in infrastructure

December 13, 2019 | Mumbai

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas organised a “Round Table on Contemporary Issues in Infrastructure” at its Mumbai office, which consisted of 3 panels:

 

The first panel looked at Greenfield and Brownfield Acquisitions in Infrastructure Projects, moderated by our National Practice Head of Projects and Project Finance, Jatin Aneja. The panelists were Venkataraman, Alvarez & Marsal India Private Ltd; Daniel Ventin, Abertis Infraestructuras, S.A – VC; Rajiv Chandak, Deloitte and our Partners, Roopal Kulsrestha and Veena Sivaramakrishnan. There has been a significant rise in acquisitions in the last few years in the infrastructure space, with both strategic players and dedicated asset managers active in the market. This panel looked at the unique challenges and trends in infrastructure acquisitions and the particular challenges of the IBC process, which has also been used for large acquisitions in infrastructure.

 

Panel 2 was on Dispute Resolution and Infrastructure Projects, moderated by our Partner, V.R. Neelakantan. The panelists were Rajiv Bakshi, JSW Steel; Sudipta Ghosh, CLP; Haresh Jagtiani, Senior Advocate; Sheila Ahuja, Allen & Overy, Singapore; Simon Ballas, Jones Day; and R K Bansal, Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company Limited. The discussions revolved around unique challenges of infrastructure disputes, in view of the nature of regulated sector and that most disputes have a public counterparty. The panel discussed if Indian courts and arbitrations have been successful in dealing with infrastructure disputes.

 

Panel 3 was on Financing Solutions for Infrastructure Projects and was moderated by our Partner Deepto Roy. The panelists were Rahul Mody, Ambit; Rahul Agarwal, Actis; and our Partners, Jay Gandhi and Debashree Dutta. The panel concentrated on the lack of liquidity in traditional project finance structures and the need for innovative financial structures in the sector. Invits have become an attractive investment vehicle for infrastructure investments. The panel discussed the experience of such Invits and its key challenges, the difficulty in protecting investor interest and related issues.