About

Can you summarise the role of each legal team member?

The legal team of HPVL is headed by Rajeev Kumar, senior vice president – legal, who has about 20 years of professional experience in various capacities and has been associated with HPVL for approximately 11 years. Kumar is involved in the legal aspects of setting-up of a new fund, fund raising initiatives, due diligence for the investment transactions, liaising with domestic and foreign regulators, structuring, negotiating and finalisation of the private equity transactions in the real estate sector. He also advises the management of HPVL and various portfolio companies of the funds on business advisory, litigation management, regulatory support and law enforcement. Kirtana Jaishankar, manager – legal, has about four years of experience in the legal and secretarial profile. She has worked with a corporate and transaction advisory team of a reputed law firm and joined the HPVL legal team this year. She works along with Kumar on various matters including the setting up of funds, legal aspects of fund raising, all legs of private equity transactions from investment to closing, post-closing monitoring and exit, corporate legal, regulatory and secretarial compliances. Management trainees are also appointed for a period of 15 months from time to time, for training them in the legal, secretarial and compliance role as required by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. The legal team also appoints law college interns for few months during the year as required.

What are the most significant projects the legal team has been involved with recently?

The team is currently involved in preparing strategies and negotiating exits for certain investments under the existing schemes. The team has also worked on setting up of a new fund and raising funds from investors for the new fund. During the last two years, the team has advised the company on getting exits from its various portfolio investments for the value aggregating US$150m. The team has also advised on two litigations involving its portfolio company under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

What attributes are essential for an in-house legal team to possess?

The laws and regulatory regime in India has been undergoing paradigm changes and hence is one of the most dynamic fields to work in. This requires every in-house team to be up-to date with the laws and regulatory regime applicable to their specific industry so that they can work with the business team to structure operations of the organisation for optimum results and no liability owing to legal and regulatory change. Besides, one of the most essential attributes of an in-house counsel is to be able to work alongside and empathise with the commercial requirements of the organisation while advising on legal aspects and legal documentation. In current age legal counsels are required to operate in an innovative way which is out of the ordinary in order to achieve optimum solutions for the organisations that fit within the applicable legal framework.

How can legal teams be an integral part of their firm’s business?

The way we look at it is that the legal team relays the regulatory framework to the business and commercial teams. To understand how any regulatory framework can affect the business, it is essential for the legal team to have a good understanding of how the business functions. In particular, in real estate private equity, the legal team works hand-in-hand with the business and commercial teams for taking any business
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