Abhishek Saxena

Abhishek Saxena is a Co-founding Partner of Phoenix Legal, based in the New Delhi office, with nearly three decades of experience advising on corporate and transactional matters. His primary practice area is Mergers and Acquisitions.

His practice spans mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity, project development, foreign direct investment, regulatory structuring and labour & employment. He also advises on tax-efficient structures, insolvency resolution, and business reorganisations under Indian insolvency and corporate laws.

He has advised a broad spectrum of clients, including Indian conglomerates, multinational corporations and private equity investors, on complex cross-border transactions and regulatory strategy across different sectors. He is frequently engaged for advising on transaction structuring, risk allocation and compliance with sector-specific regulatory regimes. His experience includes advising Fortune 100 companies and leading Indian corporates on high-value investments and strategic collaborations.

His representative experience includes advising DCM Shriram Limited, a listed company, on its acquisition of a 53% shareholding in DNV Global Private Limited, a company engaged in the manufacturing and trading of hardware for windows and doors, to strengthen vertical integration for its Fenesta Windows business, India's No. 1 windows and doors brand; and advising DCM Shriram Limited on its joint venture with Teknor Apex B.V., a subsidiary of Teknor Apex Company and a global leader in polymer solutions, implemented through the sale of a 50% stake in its subsidiary, Shriram PolyTech Limited.

He advised a listed Indian pharmaceutical company with a strong global presence across key markets on its acquisition of the EMEA, Canada and Australasia businesses of a multinational pharmaceutical company with operations spanning over 20 countries, including France, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. He also advised a Fortune 500 company on the sale of its shareholding in its Indian joint venture company engaged in the textile manufacturing sector; advised one of the bidders on the bid to purchase from Pernod Ricard its Imperial Blue whiskey business; and advised smartShift Group Inc., a leading tech-enabled services provider for SAP custom application migrations, upgrades and transformation, and its shareholders on the Indian leg of the transaction involving its recapitalisation by Ridgemont Equity Partners.

Other matters include advising Linamar Corporation, Canada's second largest automobile manufacturer, on the Indian leg of the 100% acquisition of Bourgault Industries, a renowned global leader in the manufacture of broad-acre seeding equipment; advising Intuitive Surgical, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, on termination of its distributorship arrangement in India and commencing its business activities involving distribution of robotic surgical arms and systems and transfer of employees and business assets from its earlier distributor; and advising a Japanese engineering corporation on its investment in an entity developing a green ammonia manufacturing facility in Odisha.

He advised Petronet LNG Limited, a listed public company and a joint venture promoted by large Indian public sector undertakings — the Gas Authority of India Limited, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited — on the establishment, operation and management of its LNG receipt and regasification facilities at Dahej, Gujarat and Kochi, Kerala. He also advised Accor and InterGlobe on setting up a USD 325 million hotel fund as a joint venture with Pacifica Partners (a joint venture between HOST, a US REIT, and GIC of Singapore).

Further matters include advising different foreign investors on the acquisition of a project company developing an LNG receiving terminal utilising a floating storage and regasification unit on the west coast of India; advising Quaker Chemical Corporation on the acquisition of a 45% stake in its Indian joint venture from its exiting joint venture partner Asianol Lubricants; advising Alfanar Group, headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with a turnover of US $2.5 billion, on a Euros 120 million acquisition of the entire B2B automation business from India's Crompton Greaves Limited on a global basis; advising HNA Group, a Chinese conglomerate and Fortune 500 company engaged in the hospitality and aviation business, on the acquisition of Carlson/Rezidor hotels; and advising Dufry AG on the acquisition of Nuance Group for a consideration of CHF 1.55 billion on a debt- and cash-free basis.