Sawant Singh

Sawant Singh is a Co-founding Partner based in Mumbai. His primary practice area is Banking and Finance Law, and his areas of expertise include private equity, project finance, securitisation, asset reconstruction, consortium banking, domestic and external commercial borrowings, and debt restructuring.

He also advises clients on a host of corporate and commercial, labour and employment, and real estate issues, including inbound and outbound foreign investment, corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures.

His services have been widely recognised and he is known for having a "great reputation" in the market. According to Asialaw Profiles, he "is highly respected by peers and much acclaimed by clients", and according to Chambers and Partners, he "has great clarity of thought and varied exposure, and handles very big transactions with ease". Chambers & Partners has referred to him as one of India's most in-demand banking practitioners, and he has been listed in the 'A-List: India's Top 100 Lawyers' by the Indian Business Law Journal.

Clients praise him for his "solution-focused and practical approach" in addition to his "very calm demeanour, which is a huge plus in high stakes negotiations". They admire him for being "accessible, smart and quick in his responses" and for being "able to see the commercial aspects of the matter". Chambers and Partners has also certified him as "Highly recommended as a leading lawyer in 'Banking and Finance' and 'Projects, Infrastructure & Energy'", describing him as "a very good corporate lawyer", "a very well-regarded lawyer on the banking side", and a "project finance veteran".

His representative experience includes advising Suburban Diagnostics (India) Private Limited, a leading healthcare company, on its acquisition by Dr. Lal Pathlabs Limited; advising Oricon on the sale of its plastics packaging business to Manjushree Technopack; advising Citibank on devising and successfully implementing India's first revolving securitisation for working capital loans; and advising IFMR Capital on structuring the world's first multi-originator securitisation issuance, with the underlying pool being micro-loans.

He also advised Sanctum Wealth Management on the management buy-out of the Indian private banking and wealth management business of the Royal Bank of Scotland, including assistance with obtaining approvals under the Competition Act, 2002; advised Deutsche Mutual Fund on the acquisition of its mutual fund schemes and portfolios under management by Pramerica Mutual Fund, including assistance with obtaining regulatory approvals under the SEBI (Mutual Fund) Regulations, 1996, the SEBI (Portfolio Managers) Regulations, 1993 and the Competition Act, 2002; advised clients such as the Hilti Group, J.P. Morgan, PayPal, Deutsche Bank, Mizuho Bank, Australia and New Zealand Bank, Messe Frankfurt, MoneyGram, KCG Holdings Inc. and RuderFinn on various issues relating to employment laws; and advised Sojitz on a USD 40 million joint venture (including equity infusion, credit support, exclusive supply arrangement and technical services) with the Archean Group to set up and operate a marine chemicals plant.