Vinod Joseph: Corporates’ Most Trusted Law Counselling Partner

Vinod Joseph | Argus Partners
Vinod Joseph

The most challenging areas of business law need the most trusted law counsellor like Vinod Joseph, Partner, Corporate and M&A, Private Equity and Venture Capital, Finance, Technology and Data Privacy, Argus Partners–Solicitors and Advocates.

With over 21 years of expertise as a corporate and commercial lawyer, of which seven were in London, Vinod has extensive experience in structuring and setting up private equity and venture capital funds, preparing fund documents and obtaining requisite regulatory approvals for such funds. He has also supervised and worked on many transactions involving investments by funds in Indian companies.

Vinod has also assisted many banks with documentation for their fund-based and non-fund-based facilities. Advising on trade finance documents is one of Vinod’s strengths.

A Tech-Knowl-Edged Counsel

Vinod has long been interested in technology. He has advised several tech players on issues such as data privacy, data migration, outsourcing, and regulatory approvals for cross-border data migration. Data privacy and security are increasingly big-ticket items. Vinod has experience advising tech companies and entities that process large quantities of sensitive data (such as banks) on best practices and contractual safeguards.

Vinod started his career with the Chambers of Zia Mody in Mumbai in 1998. He worked in London for Gowling WLG, Reed Smith, and Kotak Mahindra (UK) Limited. After returning to Mumbai in 2011, he was a Partner at Dua Associates, after which he had a series of in-house stints wherein he headed legal teams at Bennett Coleman’s Brand Capital, IDFC Alternatives Limited and Global Infrastructure Partners India LLP. He joined the Firm in 2019.

Vinod graduated from the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, in 1998 and with a Masters in Corporate and Commercial Laws from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2003. He is admitted to practice law in India and England, and Wales.

In the League of Extraordinary Attorneys

Corporate and M&A: Argus Partners is well known for its general corporate and mergers and acquisitions practice. Vinod shares, “We have regularly advised in complex domestic and cross-border transactions. Our M&A team consists of highly skilled lawyers who have developed significant expertise in this area of practice and offer creative and pragmatic solutions on all matters. Understanding our clients’ business and a strong understanding of accounting, financial, and tax matters gives us the added advantage of identifying, comprehending and mitigating risks.”

Vinod and team Argus’ expertise includes mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, asset sale and purchase, joint ventures, court/NCLT sanctioned scheme of amalgamation and arrangement, group restructuring, public and private takeovers, privatization, leveraged buyout and management buyout. They have represented public and private acquirers, target companies, and the sell side in varied inbound and outbound acquisition transactions.

Argus’ offices across India give it a distinct advantage in serving its clients. Lawyers across all offices work closely to provide clients with comprehensive advice on general corporate and M&A matters. The team, including Vinod’s depth of experience and skills in a broad spectrum of other practice areas such as indirect tax, competition, disputes, finance and exchange control regulations, enables the firm to service its clients effectively. “We advise on every aspect of the transaction including structuring the transaction, documentation, undertaking a comprehensive legal, due diligence and offering post-closing advisory services amongst others,” reveals Vinod.

Finance: The Firm’s practice in banking and finance is demonstrated by the depth of its clientele across sectors. Vinod and the team advise leading national and international banks, financial institutions, NBFCs, debt funds and corporate houses in almost all forms of banking and finance transactions, including structured finance, securitization, project finance, promoter funding/loan against shares, syndicated lending, consortium lending, bonds, debentures and commercial papers. While most of their assignments are as lenders’ or investors’ counsel, they have acted as borrowers’ or issuers’ counsel in various transactions.

The banking and finance practice has expanded significantly with the merger of the law firm P&P Legal; a boutique banking and finance firm that has existed for 22 years, with Argus in 2017.

Private Equity and Venture Capital: Private equity investments in India are subject to complex regulations. The law on this subject is constantly evolving, and structuring private equity transactions is getting more complex and sophisticated by the day. “We possess extensive knowledge and understanding of the key issues that our clients may face. This enables us to provide our clients with bespoke solutions and creative strategies. We have both the technical and practical expertise to meet the requirements of our clients and their business necessities,” says Vinod. They have regularly advised clients on venture capital and private equity investments. They have acted for private equity funds, other alternative investment funds, and the investee companies. They have advised their clients from the stage of initial investment until exit, advising on structuring the transaction, negotiating and drafting definitive documentation, undertaking legal and due diligence and offering guidance on a wide range of legal and commercial issues.

Apart from advising on various private equity transactions, they also advise on the structuring and setting up of private equity funds and other alternative investment funds by the rules and regulations issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

They employ a multi-disciplinary approach while advising their clients, offering their expertise across various disciplines. “We have advised on series A, B & C level as well as growth capital. We have also advised for minority stake as well as on control deals,” informs Vinod.

Technology And Data Privacy: Technology has been the driving force behind the Indian economy for the last two decades. After the dot-com era, tech start-ups took over the pivotal task of bringing in foreign investment and creating jobs in India. Indian lawyers who understand the technology and tech-driven transactions have played a significant role in supporting the growth and development of Indian technology MNCs. India has had the SPDI Rules since 2011, and now a proposed data privacy statute – the Data Protection Bill, on par with GDPR, is being deliberated upon in Parliament.

Argus Partners has developed a robust technology and data privacy practice, which spans transactional, corporate, and regulatory advisory, as well as technology-related disputes and litigation. Experienced attorneys are based out of our New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore offices. The Firm services clients across the globe on Indian legal issues relating to technology and data privacy.

We provide advisory, dispute resolution, and research and knowledge building initiatives in this area,” mentions Vinod.

In the Advisory, they advise some of the largest financial institutions, investors, tech companies, and other corporations on technology regulations (including the recent intermediary rules) and data privacy laws (including legal issues arising out of the migration of data across borders).

In Disputes Resolution, the Firm provides end-to-end litigation support, including pre-litigation strategy, on complex disputes involving intermediary liability, information technology, and data privacy-related issues.

While in Research and Knowledge Building Initiatives, “We carry out innovative research into the potential impact of the applicable technology and data privacy regulations on Indian businesses,” says Vinod.

Vinod’s Select Professional Experience

~Advised Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Limited in connection with its investment in fintech start-up, ‘EarlySalary’.

~Advised the Kotak Pre-IPO Opportunities Fund in connection with its investment of approximately Rs. 185 crores in Swiggy (Bundl Technologies Private Limited), one of India’s leading online food ordering and delivery platforms. Swiggy is among the fastest-growing unicorns in the Indian start-up space. Swiggy’s fund-raise is significant for the Indian economy as it echoes strong investor commitment in the Indian private equity market and Indian start-ups.

~Advised the Kotak Pre-IPO Opportunities Fund in connection with its investment in Licious (Delightful Gourmet Private Limited). Licious is India’s first D2C (Direct to Consumer) Unicorn, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Licious operates out of three processing centres in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Gurugram. It operates on a farm-to-fork model, owning the entire back-end supply chain and cold chain.

~Advised the Kotak Pre-IPO Opportunities Fund in connection with its investment of approximately Rs. 200 Crores in Dailyhunt (Ver Se Innovation Private Limited) (an Indian content and news aggregator application based in Bangalore, India that provides local language content in 14 Indian languages from multiple content providers) which is on the verge of an initial public offering (IPO).

~Advised the Kotak Pre-IPO Opportunities Fund in connection with its investment of approximately USD 15,000,000 Million (United States Dollars Fifteen Million) in M-League Pte Limited (“MPL”) which is on the verge of an initial public offering (IPO) in India. MPL is an online fantasy gaming platform which works with third-party developers and then publishes the game on the platform where users can participate in skill-based games, including cricket, puzzles, chess, crosswords etc.

~Advised the Kotak Pre-IPO Opportunities Fund in connection with its investment of approximately Rs. 188 crores in Pharmeasy (API Holdings Limited) (an Indian healthcare app and e-commerce platform for consumers involved in the selling of online medicines, diagnostics, telehealth, online doctor consultation services etc.), which is on the verge of an initial public offering (IPO).

~Advised SBI Mutual Fund in connection with an investment, by way of a preferential allotment, of Rs. 150 crores in Tube Investments of India Limited, a listed public limited company which is part of the Murugappa Group.

~Advised Kotak Investment Advisors Limited in their investment in Strata, a Bengaluru-based real estate investment start-up, in their Series A fund-raising of $ 6 million.

~Acted as the lead adviser to Alkemi Venture Partners when it invested in Arctern Healthcare Private Limited, which operates under the brand name ‘Meddo’.

~Acted for Eyestem Research Private Limited, a Bengaluru-based company, in connection with its latest fundraising from Endiya Partners.

~Advised Kotak India Growth Fund II, a venture capital fund registered with SEBI, Kotak India Private Equity Fund, incorporated in Mauritius and Kotak Investment Advisors Limited, sold their stake in Prolifics Corporation Private Limited to Sysquest Private Limited.

~Advised Manch Technologies Private Limited, a SaaS-based zero-coding digital transformation platform, in their pre-Series A fund-raising of approximately $1.1 million led by Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund with participation from Pentathlon Ventures.

Memberships

Vinod has a membership with,

  • Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa.
  • State Bar of California.
  • Admitted to the Law Society, England and Wales (Membership active).