PEOPLE

Pradeep Ratnam

Senior Partner

LOCATION
New Delhi

Profile

Pradeep Ratnam is a Senior Partner in the New Delhi office of the Firm and co-chair of the Firm’s Infrastructure, Banking and Project Finance Practice. 

Pradeep obtained a B.A, LL.B. (Hons.) from the prestigious National Law School of India, Bangalore and is a British Council Chevening Scholar with an LL.M (with Distinction) from the University of Warwick, U.K. Prior to joining Kochhar & Co. Pradeep, who is dual qualified in India and the UK, worked in Herbert Smith LLP, Allen and Overy LLP and White and Case LLP in London and in Singapore. Since his return to India, Pradeep has served as Director (Legal) in IDFC Alternatives (the alternative assets platform of Global Infrastructure Partners) and as Group General Counsel at Infrastructure Leasing and Financing Services Limited (IL&FS). 

Pradeep has over 24 years of multi-jurisdictional work experience in the areas of Infrastructure and Finance, Public Law and PPP, and advises on transactions in Banking, Projects & Structured Finance and Restructuring, as well as M&A and Private Equity investments in Infrastructure. 

Pradeep’s clients comprise of domestic and international banks and other financial institutions, infrastructure companies, project developers, EPC and O&M contractors, asset reconstruction companies, credit funds and private equity. With practice experience of over two decades in diverse jurisdiction – the UK, Singapore and in India, Pradeep advises on the legal aspects of cross border transaction structuring in India, investment regulation, complex due diligence, financing, project development, M&A and exits. He is currently involved in various transactions in conventional power, health and IT, renewable energy, power transmission, roads, telecom, water, ports, housing, and social and urban infrastructure.  

Expertise

Publications

Awards & Recognitions

Recognised among India’s ’Top 100 Lawyers’ by FORBES Legal Powerlist 2020; felicitated for expertise in Banking & Finance
Legal 500 Asia Pacific : Recommended Lawyer for Banking & Finance 2022, Projects, Energy & Infrastructure 2022
Forbes India Legal Powerlist - Top 100 Lawyers: Felicitated for expertise in Banking & Finance 2020, Infrastructure & Projects 2021

Education

  • LL.M, University of Warwick, UK (British Chevening Scholar), 1999
  • Solicitor on the rolls of the Law Society, London
  • LL.B, National Law School of India University, 1997

Memberships

  • Delhi Bar Association, 2000

Select Experience Statement

  • Advised Voltalia S.A. a French utilities provider on its proposed acquisition of Ardom Towergen Private Limited (previously known as Quanta Towergen Private Limited), an Indian telecom tower services company.
  • Representing United Health Group (UHG) one of the largest health insurance providers in the US on its investment in a unique ICT project in the healthcare sector in Haryana, India.
  • Represented the lender Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Limited, a leading non-banking financing company (NBFC) in India on a PE backed acquisition financing of SpotOn Logistics Private Limited, an express logistics company owned by the TNT Group.
  • Advised a Dubai based health-tech platform company on its INR 140 crore acquisition of 100% of a market leading manufacturer and distributor of disinfectants and antiseptics in India.
  • Successfully representing India’s leading power sector engineering behemoth (IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company Limited) on a complex arbitration against Western UP Power Corporation.
  • Represented Sterlite Power Transmission on INR 2.7 billion mega-financing of India’s pioneering green power transmission corridor from Power Financing Corporation (PFC).
  • Represented Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Fund (TNIF), an infrastructure focused private equity fund sponsored by the Government of Tamil Nadu, on a green bond project in the hydro-electric sector in Tamil Nadu.
  • Advising DMI Management Services Private Limited on restructuring compulsorily convertible debentures (CCDs) held by DMI in a distressed portfolio company its legal claims, status and ranking of coupon bearing.
  • Advised KKR India Financial Services Limited (refinance lender) on the refinancing of a series of consortium project finance facilities of a portfolio of solar project SPVs promoted and managed by India Infrastructure Fund-II (an infrastructure focused fund of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP)).
  • Advised GMR Energy Limited on a US$300 million investment by Tenaga Nasional Berhard in GMR Energy’s portfolio of energy assets, including hydro, solar and gas based projects in India and Nepal.
  • Advised Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors Limited and Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company (“Bidders”) on its bid for Jhabua Power Limited, a stressed coal based thermal power plant promoted by the Avantha Group.
  • Advised Delhi International Airports Limited (DIAL) (as issuer’s domestic counsel) on the issuance of US$ 500 million of senior secured bonds listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

Industry Presence

  • Panelist on What is new in M&A transactions in India, American Bar Association, July 2021.
  • Country Presentation – India Update, presentation on Banking & Finance Industry Trends at the virtual conference hosted by one of the leading global law firm alliances, April 2021.
  • Presentation on Impact of Force Majeure on Financial Agreements, 4th edition of conference Legal Issues in Infrastructure, organised by India Infrastructure Forum, October 2020.

Contact Details

  • 11th Floor, Tower A, DLF Towers Jasola, Jasola District Center,
    New Delhi 110025 (India)
  • +91 11 4111 5222, 4312 9300
  • +91 11 4056 3813
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