Evolution of Outbound Acquisitions by Indian Cos

School of Law University of California, Davis

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UC Davis Legal Studies Research Paper Series

Research Paper No. 228 October 2010

Rising Multinationals: Law and the Evolution of Outbound Acquisitions by Indian Companies

Afra Afsharipour

This paper can be downloaded without charge from The Social Science Research Network Electronic Paper Collection: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1768741

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1678741

RISING MULTINATIONALS ©Afra Afsharipour Version: September 17, 2010 Do not quote or cite without permission

RISING MULTINATIONALS: LAW AND THE EVOLUTION OF OUTBOUND ACQUISITIONS BY INDIAN COMPANIES Afra Afsharipour* 44 U.C. Davis Law Review (Forthcoming 2011) Abstract India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and is predicted to become the third-largest economy in the world after the United States and China. India‘s economic transformation has allowed Indian firms to gain significant attention in the world economy, particularly as acquirers of non-Indian firms. For example, when Tata Motors bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford in 2008, it received world-wide recognition for its acquisition of a well-known international brand. The transaction was celebrated in India with newspapers heralding the acquisition of two marquee British brands. Tata Motors‘ $2.3 billion acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover was only one among many highprofile overseas acquisitions that Indian multinationals have carried out since the late 1990s. Indian conglomerates such as the Tata group and the Birla group have made overseas acquisitions in numerous sectors, including among others consumer products (such as Tata Tea‘s acquisition of major UK tea manufacturer Tetley Tea), steel (Tata Steel‘s $12 billion acquisition of its much larger rival, the Anglo-Dutch firm Corus), and aluminum (Hindalco‘s acquisition of the U.S.-Canadian Novelis,...