Competition/antitrust
Gauri Chhabra was elevated to the Firm’s partnership on 1 April 2018 and is the face of our Competition Practice in Mumbai. She started her career with the firm in 2010.
Gauri specialises in Competition Law and has worked on a full range of competition law matters, including cartel enforcement, abuse of dominance, merger control and competition compliance. She has represented Indian and multinational clients across sectors, such as airlines, cement, natural resources and manufacturing, before the Competition Commission of India (CCI). She has also represented various private equity companies, asset management companies and financial institutions to seek merger control clearance from the CCI. She has also worked closely with the CCI on drafting the merger regulations and streamlining its procedures, as part of the “Law Firm Working Group”, constituted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Gauri has extensive experience in merger control and has successfully obtained unconditional clearances for high profile transactions like Blackstone’s acquisition of control over Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd., and Comstar, Essel Propack, Aakash Educational Services, etc., India’s second largest real estate investment trust Mindspace REIT, created by the K. Raheja Group, Ultratech Cement’s acquisition of Jaypee Cements, Reliance Capital Asset Management of Nippon Life Insurance and Schneider’s acquisition of the L&T electrical business.
In 2020, Gauri led on a number of merger cases. She represented all three parties in the merger of Embassy Properties with India Bulls Real Estate Limited, where Blackstone was also acquiring a minority stake in the merged entity, and Warburg’s acquisition in India’s second largest retail pharmacy chain Medplus Healthcare. She also advised various private equity investors in their acquisitions in Reliance Jio. In 2021, Gauri represented Blackstone in its acquisition of the Piramal Glass business, Blackstone’s acquisition of Mphasis Limited, National Investment and Infrastructure Fund- II’s acquisition in Manipal Hospitals and Carlyle’s acquisition of Hexaware, which was the biggest transaction in the information technology space in India.
Gauri’s experience in relation to cartels, includes advising and representing Singapore Airlines in an alleged cartel, filing leniency applications to seek the benefit of lesser, Mitsui O.S.K. Ltd., Nissan Motor Car Carrier Co. Ltd., to name a few. In the area of abuse of dominance, she has acted for Microsoft Corporation (India), Adani Gas Limited and Gujarat Gas Company Limited.
Gauri has co-authored various articles for international publications, including India’s merger control chapter in The Merger Control Review, 2021, “India’s New Competition Regime Steadily Gaining Ground”, Competition Law International (Antitrust Journal of the International Bar Association); “Latest Merger Control Trends Analysed”, International Finance Law Review; the India chapter in The Cartels and Leniency Review; and for Law Business Research Limited.
