Indian law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has advised India’s Aster DM Healthcare on the sale of its Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) business for $1 billion to a consortium led by UAE sovereign-owned private capital firm Fajr Capital and Affinity Holdings, a company held by Aster’s promoters.

Fajr was represented by Allen & Overy, while Baker McKenzie guided Affinity. AZB & Partners was the advisor to Aster’s independent directors.

The deal is intended to separate Aster’s India business from its Middle East one, to allow both entities to focus more closely on their respective markets.

“Upon completion, the separation of the India and GCC businesses will establish two distinct regional healthcare champions that will benefit from the strategic and financial flexibility to focus on growing market demand and the priorities of patients. Both the India and GCC entities will be operated by separate dedicated management teams and will also benefit from a dedicated investor base that will aid future growth in the Indian and GCC markets, respectively, both of which hold significant growth potential,” the companies said in a joint statement.

The CAM team advising Aster on the deal was led by transactions partner Anand Jayachandran. Technology and telecom partner Arun Prabhu advised on intellectual property aspects, while partner Avaantika Kakkar advised on competition aspects of the deal. Partner Reuben Chacko acted as the relationship partner for Aster.

The Baker McKenzie team advising Affinity was led by M&A partner Abeer Jarrar in Dubai and corporate finance partner George Marshall in London. The team also included antitrust partner David Monnier, banking partners Adil Hussain and Nick Tostivin and employment partners Joanna Matthews-Taylor and Jeremy Edwards.

The A&O team representing Fajr Capital was led by the firm's Middle East head of corporate David Foster.  

The AZB team was led by partners Vaidhyanadhan Iyer and Sneha Nagvekar