Argus Partners

Corporate and M&A; Private Equity & Venture Capital

Partner

Pallavi has over 15 years’ experience in advising clients on private equity transactions, mergers & acquisitions, and general corporate / commercial laws. Pallavi has led transactions pertaining to private equity and venture capital investments in various sectors from seed capital, mid-stage investments (i.e., Series A onwards) as well as late stage (pre-IPO). Investments have been both financial as well as strategic and have involved representation of both investors and companies in equal measure. These transactions have been in various sectors, including but not limited to pharmaceutical, non-banking finance, SaaS, e-commerce, manufacturing, logistics, fintech to name a few. Pallavi has also advised both companies and investment funds on various structuring aspects of transactions (viz., flips, externalisations, structuring for compliance with FDI norms (e.g., shareholding structures, choice of instruments, deferred considerations, and indemnity hold backs), valuation adjustments, founder earnouts, etc.).

Pallavi has also advised leading corporations on their acquisition of companies and businesses across various sectors (viz., manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, education, technology, financial services, and software services). These acquisitions have been by way of share purchase, business transfers and/or asset transfers.

Within the ambit of general corporate advisory, Pallavi’s role has entailed advising various clients (both domestic and foreign) on inter-alia commercial functions and handling of ordinary-course-of-business contracts (distribution agreement, license agreements (ranging from software to other intellectual property such as trademarks), warehousing agreements, trust deeds, joint venture contracts, intellectual property assignment agreements, business transfer agreements, etc.); and general risk assessments and providing strategic recommendations to mitigate potential legal risks in contracts.

Pallavi has contributed to the latest chapter on Mergers & Acquisitions for Lexology and to the EY-IVCA Start-up Governance Navigator report in collaboration with Pratithi Investments, which delves into corporate governance best practices for founders and investors.

She completed her B.A. LL.B. (Law) from Bangalore University. She is also qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales.

Select Professional Experience

Advising Wipro, one of the leading information technology services providers in its sale of hosted data centre services to Ensono, a US based multi-million-dollar enterprise and assisting with post-acquisition transition by way of drafting new employment contracts, termination letters, final settlement letters, transition support agreement, inter-company agreement for transfer pricing etc.

Advising Darwinbox, a leading provider of cloud-based Human Resources Management Software, in their acquisition of companies by way of share purchase and asset purchase and in their day to day to operation including negotiation of long-term service agreements, key employee contracts, settlement agreements, strategic partnership agreements, software licensing agreements, IP assignment agreements etc.

Advising Livspace, one of the leading home interior platforms in India, in its late stage multi-million dollar fundraise from TPG, Goldman Sacks and Ingka Investments, the VC arm of Ikea.

Advising Wipro, one of the leading Information Technology Services providers in its sale of EcoEnergy business to US based multi-conglomerate UTC one of the leading providers of high-technology products and services to the global aerospace and building systems industries.

Advising Lockstep Systems, a company providing a platform for building fintech applications that work with their customers’ accounting systems in its acquisition by the Sage Group, a company engaged in accounting, financial, human resources and payroll technology for small and mid-sized businesses.

Advising Epic, a company which set up the World's Largest Digital Library for Kids in its acquisition by Byju's, as its India counsel.

Advising Onfido, a global leader in identity verification in its acquisition by Entrust, a global leader in trusted payments, identities, and data security, as its India counsel.

Advising Pratithi Trust, the Family Office of Kris Gopalakrishnan, in the setting up of the trust as well their day to day functioning including advice on investments, negotiating contracts including relating to publication of ‘Against All Odds- The IT Story of India’, setting up of the ‘Centre for Brain Research at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore’, negotiation of consultant contracts, employment agreements, setting up endowments with different universities, liaising with bankers for overseas direct investment etc.

Advising India Innovation Fund, a venture capital fund based out of Bangalore, in sale of its portfolio to TR Capital, one of the well-known secondary private equity investors of Asia Pacific.

Advising Elevation Capital, one of the most active venture capital investors in India, in their early to late-stage investments into companies in India, including Aye Finance, Yogabar, Cashflo, Wmall etc.

Advising Info Edge Ventures, one of the most active venture capital investors in India, in their early to late-stage investments into companies in India, including Dotpe, Bigfoot Retail Solutions (Shiprocket), Llama Logisol, that owns and operates logistics platform Shipsy etc.

Advising OrbiMed, one of the largest healthcare focused funds, in relation to their early as well as late-stage investments into companies in India, including KIMS Healthcare, Asian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Shasun Phrama, Surya Children’s Hospital, Mumbai etc.

Advising Exfinity Ventures, one of the most active venture capital investors in India, in their early to late-stage investments into companies in India, including Zyla Health, Autoverse, Corsalite, etc.

Karnataka State Bar Council.