Here’s Rajat Sethi, the man behind some of the most famous M&As in India

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Here’s Rajat Sethi, the man behind some of the most famous M&As in India
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You might have never heard the name of Rajat Sethi, but several M&As that have happened in India in the recent past have been a result of Sethi’s hardwork.

Also read: Voda-Idea merger gave India Inc's M&A tally a fourfold jump

About a decade ago, Sethi helped a telecom giant in negotiating the terms and conditions of its $11-billion exit from India, a complicated transaction that not only involved Indian shareholders but also had overseas investment limits, future promises of exits, lock-ins related to performance, and various regulatory issues.

However, Hutch did exit successfully from India after Vodafone acquired a 67% stake in it, and Sethi was the person to be credited.

Ever since, Sethi has helped Vodafone a) make acquisitions so that it can expand its network in India, b) create Indus tower, the tower partnership Indus with two of its biggest rivals Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular, and c) transfer shares from Indian joint venture partners Essar, the Piramal Group and individuals like Analjit Singh and Asim Ghosh.
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Also read: Vodafone India re-organizes its leadership structure

When the time came for the merger between Vodafone and Idea Cellular, which would result in India's biggest phone company, Sethi was the man to be remembered for being the legal advisor.

Sethi, co-founder of S&R Associates (2005) along with Sandeep Bhagat, is known to be calm, methodical and thorough, who usually is the first person to come to the office and the last to leave.

"He is quiet, only speaks when it's needed but that is why when he speaks his words have gravitas," Deep Kalra, Makemytrip CEO told ET. Sethi had helped the travel portal in its merger with rival GoIbibo last year, a deal worth around $2-billion.

Also read: India-based MakeMyTrip is buying ibibo Group
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In the telecom space, Sethi has navigated the $1-billion investment by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund in market leader Bharti Airtel in 2013.

It was in 1999 that Sethi had met Bhagat at the law firm Pathak and Associates, after Bhagat had returned with a degree from Cornell Law School, while Sethi had just moved to corporate law from litigation.

It was their idea to make it big that had them pursuing limited work, and the confidence in their work because of which they priced themselves on par with market leaders, promising quality and personal attention.

Who knew then, that these two form a partnership that would help sealing the deals between some of world’s biggest and widely known companies.

(Image source Bar and Bench)
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