Khaitan & Co Acts As Legal Counsel To Reliance Industries, Viacom 18 Media

Khaitan & Co acted as the legal counsel to Reliance Industries Limited and Viacom 18 Media Private Limited on its strategic joint venture with The Walt Disney Company. 

This transaction will merge the digital streaming and television assets of Disney and Viacom18 in India to create one of the leading TV and digital streaming platforms for entertainment and sports content in India. With the addition of Disney’s acclaimed films and shows to Viacom18’s renowned productions and sports offerings, the JV will offer a compelling, accessible and novel digital-focused entertainment experience to people in India and the Indian diaspora globally. The JV will also be granted exclusive rights to distribute Disney films and productions in India, with a license to more than 30,000 Disney content assets, providing a full suite of entertainment options for the Indian consumer.

RIL has agreed to invest INR 11,500 crore into the platform for its growth strategy and the transaction values the joint venture at INR 70,352 crore on a post-money basis, excluding synergies.

The deal team was led by Haigreve Khaitan (Partner), Kartick Maheshwari (Partner), Deepak Jodhani (Partner), Mehul Shah (Partner), Tanu Banerjee (Partner) with assistance from Rahul Dutt (Partner), and included Gautam Suseel (Principal Associate), Ishan Johri (Principal Associate) and Tanya Singh Shah (Senior Associate).

Khaitan & Co team also consisted of:

Anisha Chand (Partner) and Anshuman Sakle (Partner), Soham Banerjee (Principal Associate), Alisha Mehra (Senior Associate), Rishabh Vohra (Associate) and Yatharth V Singh (Associate), on anti-trust related aspects.

Tanu Banerjee (Partner), Ishan Johri (Principal Associates), Heema Shirvaikar (Senior Associate), Virali Nagda (Senior Associate), Bimbita Kateel (Associate), Akriti Sirsalewala (Associate), Prakhar Khandelwal (Associate), Sankalp Jain (Associate) and Naina Bora (Associate) on Technology, Media and Entertainment laws related aspects.

Adheesh Nargolkar (Partner), Smriti Yadav (Partner), Sunaina Brahma (Senior Associate), Shubham Shende (Associate) and Paarth Samdani (Associate), on intellectual property related aspects.

Aman Yagnik (Counsel), Rushabh Gala (Principal Associate), Jamsheed Dadachanji (Senior Associate), Amit Panwar (Senior Associate), Dhruvi Dharia (Associate) and Jaideep Sharma (Paralegal) on the merger scheme related aspects; and

Deepak Kumar (Partner), Sneha Janakiraman (Partner), Madhav Khosla (Principal Associate), Saurav Bhaumik (Principal Associate), Deeksha Malik (Senior Associate), Divyansh Joshi (Associate), Smriti Nair (Associate), Anadi Saxena (Associate), Shreya Sukhtankar (Associate), Hardik Malik (Associate), Miheer Jain (Associate) on the due diligence.