Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. (SAM) advised Varroc Engineering Limited (“Varroc”), an Indian listed automotive component manufacturer, on its strategic joint venture with France-based Forsee Power SA (“Forsee”), through which Varroc has agreed to acquire a 45% stake in Forsee Power India Private Limited (the “Company”). The transaction involves a combination of a secondary purchase of equity shares from Forsee and a primary subscription to equity shares and optionally convertible redeemable preference shares (OCRPS).

The joint venture aims to strengthen and scale up the manufacturing of lithium-ion battery systems, including battery management systems, for electric vehicles in India. The Company manufactures, assembles, tests and validates battery systems for electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, other light electric vehicles and buses. Under the transaction, Forsee has agreed to grant the Company an exclusive, royalty-bearing technology license for the manufacturing and supply of its battery systems in India and the SAARC region. The partnership brings together Forsee’s battery technology and Varroc’s manufacturing, customer and management capabilities, supporting the localisation and expansion of EV battery solutions in India.

The SAM transaction team was led by Rudra Kumar Pandey (Partner) and Amanjot Malhi (Partner), and comprised Jyoti Gautam (Principal Associate), Deepti Pandey (Senior Associate), Rachit Grover (Senior Associate) and Adrija Ghosh (Associate). The intellectual property team comprised Dev Robinson (Partner), Aishwarya Chaturvedi (Senior Associate) and Shivali Prasad (Associate).