Reminiscence thread #1. Almost 20 years ago, I led the legal team that advised @generalatlantic on this deal – USD 100 million investment into Patni Computers. rediff.com/money/2002/sep…
$100 million may not sound like much today, but it was a HUGE amount in those days. In fact, this was then the largest #PrivateEquity deal in #India, in ANY sector!
I was ALL of 26 years old when I led this deal, and justifiably, VERY EXCITED to see the deal make the front page headline story in several top business newspapers!
The “new millennium” had just set in…..after surviving the infamous (and damp-squib!) Y2K bug scare, the horrific 9/11 attacks, the dotcom bubble, and the Kargil War, the Indian economy was getting ready to soar.
The Indian software services industry was on fire – first, it grew on opportunities stemming from the Y2K bug fear, and then, it grew even stronger on the back of the global #offshoring boom that followed the dot com bust.
PE funds had just started to look at Indian market – VC funds still hadn’t, and wouldn’t for another 7-8 years thence. The GA-Patni deal, along with a couple of others like the @warburgpincus investment in #BhartiAirtel, was truly the vanguard of PE dealmaking in India!
This deal was special for India as it validated the Indian market and spurred a spate of comparable and even larger deals, including one more deal that I advised on – the $500 million buyout of @Genpact by GA and Oak Hill (which again, was the largest PE deal in India then).
I consider myself truly #blessed and fortunate to have had the opportunity to lead this deal as the lead lawyer for GA in those days. Certainly laid the foundation for a LOT MORE to come, both for me, and for the Indian market :-)
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