April 19, Delhi/Mumbai: Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised Collective Newsroom Private Limited (Collective Newsroom), a new Indian owned and controlled entity set up by senior employees of The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in India, in connection with the acquisition of the digital news business of BBC’s subsidiary in India by Collective Newsroom and continuing arrangements with the BBC for, inter alia, production and publication of content on BBC websites, social media and for production of TV news bulletin, translation and adaptation of BBC content into local languages, etc. 

The General Corporate team of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised on the transaction. The transaction team was led by Akila Agrawal, Partner& Head - Mergers and Acquisitions, Preksha Malik, Partner, and Ishita Khandelwal, Partner, with support from Akshay Pathak, Principal Associate, Udyan Arya Shrivastava, Senior Associate, Anusha Rai, Associate, and Daanish Dube, Associate.

Aarushi Jain, Partner& Head - Media, Education & Gaming, with support from Pooja Kapadia, Principal Associate, assisted on the transaction from a media law perspective.

Bishen Jeswant, Partner, with support from Akash Mishra, Senior Associate, and Sonam Ambastha, Associate, advised on the employment law related aspects.

SR Patnaik, Partner, with support from Reema Arya, Consultant, and Shivam Garg, Senior Associate, advised on the tax law related aspects.

Swati Sharma, Partner& Head – Intellectual Property, advised on IP and trademark related aspects.

Other advisors to the transaction included Bharucha & Partners, acting as Indian legal counsel for BBC, Dhruva Advisors, acting as advisor for BBC and Deloitte, acting as consultant for Collective Newsroom Private Limited.

The transaction was completed on April 10, 2024, with the launch of Collective Newsroom as a new independent media organization, with BBC as its first client.