Gerald Manoharan

Gerald (Jerry) specialises in the areas of general corporate commercial work, including real estate. Jerry advises several overseas companies with their entry into India, either directly by setting up subsidiaries or by way of strategic acquisitions and joint ventures. He works with promoters and companies and advises them on exit strategies and protection of promoter and key employee interests. Jerry also represents investors proposing to invest as financial or strategic collaborators in existing entities.  

Jerry regularly represents several real estate developers, land aggregators and investors in real estate transactions. His expertise in this area covers: (i) conducting title due diligence of land and issuance of title opinion; (ii) advising on land acquisition and land aggregation structures including local law implications; (iii) joint development of land for commercial and residential uses; (iv) strategies for mitigating issues and disputes in land development and acquisition; (v) leasing, sale and estate planning.

Jerry also leads the start-up initiative of the firm where the firm has created an eco-system to enable and grow start-ups by providing them access to quality legal advisory and mentoring.  He works with several incubators across the country including iCreate, CIIE, JITO and NASSCOM to develop this eco-system.  He engages with the start-up community and has facilitated them with preliminary documentation, legal advisory, funding and related matters.

Jerry’s key transactions include:

• Advised and assisted the promoters of agro-processing equipment maker Milltec Machinery Limited (Milltec), in connection with Milltec’s acquisition by Ag Growth International Inc. (AGI). 49% of the stake in Milltec as held by Multiples Private Equity Fund (and its affiliates; “Multiples”), was also sold to AGI as part of this transaction. The value of the deal was approximately INR 762.8 crores, which also includes consideration based on achievement of identified targets.
• Advised and assisted Nutreco International B.V. (Nutreco), a Dutch animal nutrition and aqua feed multi-national firm and a subsidiary of SHV Holdings N.V., a Dutch multi-national company, in connection with its joint venture entity, Aquamart Feeds Private Limited (Aquamart), with the West Coast Group. The West Coast Group owns shrimp hatcheries, farms and processing plants, distributes shrimp feed and markets domestic and imported frozen food products, and their flagship consumer brand is Cambay Tiger. The value of the deal was approximately Euro 16.3 million;
• Advised and assisted Solutions Infini Technologies (India) Private Limited (Solutions Infini) and it’s promoters in the acquisition of 100% of its stake by Ubiquity S.R.L., an Italy based messaging platform provider;
• Advised one of the renowned builders in India, Godrej Properties Limited, in connection with the acquisition and development of about 101 Acres of residential land near Devanahalli, Bengaluru;
• Advised Amazon Development Centre (India) Private Limited in matters relating to the setting up of its largest offshore unit as a special economic zone in Hyderabad;
• Advised a large multinational manufacturing company SABMiller India Limited now called Anheuser-Busch InBev in closure of its factory unit in Bengaluru, Karnataka, and also in the negotiation and sale of its approximately 13 acres of land parcel situated in Yeshwanthpur, Bengaluru North Taluk. The deal value was approximately INR 218 Crore;
• Advised a Dutch multinational company SHV Energy Private Limited for their proposed sale of industrial land measuring about 43 Acres 35 Cents in Vandalur, Chennai;
• Represented Bagmane Developers Private Limited, in a very large build to suit and leasing transaction extending close to 1.5 million square feet of built up space.