Tirthankar Datta

Tirthankar specialises in banking & finance, financial services, mergers & acquisitions and cross border investments. He has extensive experience in structured debt transactions including all manner of finance related transactions (secured, limited recourse and syndicated), project finance, acquisition finance, structured finance, real estate financing, listed and unlisted corporate bonds / non-convertible debentures (private placement), insolvency and debt restructuring and other general banking and fintech products.

In addition, he has extensive experience in real estate financing including both construction finance as well as lease rental discounting facilities, in the residential, commercial and retail sectors as well as lending to financial institutions (such as non-banking finance companies), debt capital markets, leverage finance and acquisition finance transactions.

He regularly advises clients on Indian law and regulatory issues relating to equity and debt financing transactions and acquisitions including on issues concerning exchange control regulations and securities regulations .

He has been practicing law since 2008. Before joining JSA, he worked for eight years with Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (earlier Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co.), another law firm in India.

He has been recognised as a “Leading Lawyer: Rising Star” in Banking and Finance by IFLR 1000 (2019 & 2020) and has been recognized in the influential bi-annual RSG India Report 2019 for Capital Markets and Corporate practice areas as a recommended individual lawyer of the firm from client reviews.

Finance:

• Advised as Indian legal counsel to Credit Suisse AG and Standard Chartered Bank acting as the mandated lead arrangers and original lenders in connection syndicated credit facilities of up to USD 1.1 billion availed by Volcan Investments Cyprus Ltd for funding the delisting offer for Vedanta Resources plc. from the London Stock Exchange.
• Advised Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) in relation to an INR construction finance facility of up to INR 4.15 billion availed by M/s Nephronia Ecospaces, a sole proprietorship of Dr. Farokh Framji Wadia guaranteed by BSREP III India Bungalow Pte. Ltd. (a Brookfield entity) in connection with a forward purchase by Brookfield for the commercial property being developed by M/s Nephronia Ecospaces.
• Advised DB International (Asia) Ltd., Singapore in relation to the issuance of secured, listed non-convertible debentures aggregating upto INR 850 million by Dawn Retail Private Limited (a Blackstone Group company) in connection with the acquisition of an integrated development comprising of the Elante mall, office space and The Hyatt Regency Hotel at Chandigarh from the Carnival group.

M&A:

• Advised Tata Sons Limited, SSG and GIC in relation to their proposed investment of INR 8,000 crore in GMR Airports Limited, the airport holding company which owns and operates the Delhi Airport, Hyderabad Airport, Goa Airport and is a joint venture partner for the Mactan–Cebu International Airport, Philipines.
• Advised GUS Holdings B.V. (an affiliate of Experian plc., a leading global company in the data analytics and credit information space), in connection with its bridge round investment in A&A Dukaan Financial Services Private Limited (Bankbazaar.com).
• Advised GUS Holdings B.V. (an affiliate of the Experian plc.), in connection with its Series D Investment in Vserv Digital Services Private Limited which is engaged in the business of operating a data platform for mobile marketing.

• B.A. LL.B. (Hons.), W.B. National University of Juridical Sciences (2008)