India: M&A/Private Equity

Business transfers can fail even after legal closing when operational contracts, tax and stamp-duty treatment, and governance rights have not been dealt with together. The buyer may acquire the business legally but still face disrupted operations, restricted commercial rights or unexpected tax liabilities from the first day.

A modest regulatory penalty can sometimes carry a larger transaction lesson. The recent adjudication order involving Fyle Technologies Private Limited is a good example. The Registrar of Companies, Bengaluru, penalised the company and four of its directors for approving share transfers in physical form even though the transferors had not first dematerialised their holdings.

Structuring an acquisition carries real consequences for control, liability, tax treatment, and continuity of a target’s contracts and licenses. The reverse triangular merger (“RTM”), or reverse subsidiary merger, is among the most widely used structures in USA M&A practice for the way it treats the target after closing.

Argus Partners maintains offices in three major Indian cities: Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bengaluru. The firm provides legal services while adhering to Bar Council of India regulations that prohibit solicitation and advertising, requiring visitors to acknowledge specific disclaimers before accessing information.

Mergers and acquisitions have become a defining instrument of corporate expansion, enabling enterprises to enter new markets, enhance technological capabilities, scale rapidly and consolidate sectoral influence. Behind every successful M&A lies a foundation of investigative scrutiny known as due diligence, which determines whether an acquisition is financially sound or legally fatal. In principle, due diligence serves as a comprehensive diagnostic mechanism through which the acquirer evaluates the financial, regulatory, legal, commercial and operational standing of the target company.

In a significant ruling on the ever-evolving contours of arbitration law, the Supreme Court in KKH Finvest Pvt. Ltd. v. Ashiesh Shukla (Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) No. 4222 of 2025, decided on 5th August, 2026) revisited the circumstances in which a non-signatory can be bound by an arbitration agreement.

The Competition Commission of India has issued significant rulings on anti-competitive practices in the transportation and pharmaceutical sectors, while simultaneously approving major corporate restructurings. These decisions address freight rate fixing by transport associations, the closure of proceedings against pharmaceutical industry bodies, and the formation of strategic joint ventures in commodity trading and plastic packaging.

The 1997 Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger, valued at $13.3 billion, cleared antitrust review but created governance vulnerabilities that contributed to the 737 MAX crisis decades later. How did a transaction focused solely on competition concerns overlook the critical integration of safety cultures and risk management systems? This analysis examines the legal and governance lessons from a merger where regulatory clearance proved insufficient to address the most consequential risks in safety-critical industri

This newsletter highlights significant developments in Indian competition law, featuring key enforcement actions and merger approvals by the Competition Commission of India. From investigations into restrictive practices to major corporate acquisitions across industries, these cases demonstrate the regulator's active role in maintaining market competition and scrutinizing business combinations.