ABSTRACT
In mid-2021, Ridham Khanna, Senior Associate at Moonlight Bank's Transaction Advisory Group, was busy preparing his summary valuation report for Swift Communications Technology Services Ltd (SCTSL). After rapid consolidation in Indian Telecom Service Providers over the last decade, especially after Reliance Jio's entry, it seemed there would be a wave of consolidation in Telecom services technology providers. Moonlight developed expertise in facilitating transactions in several sectors, including telecom. It advised SCTSL to acquire Quick Singling Services Ltd (QSCL), which was slightly bigger via the equity-swap transaction; Moonlight promised to structure the transaction such that management control and board majority would remain with SCTSL. While the deal was about to close, a prominent institutional investor raised concern that SCTSL might be overpaying for QSCL. While they were supportive of the overall transaction, the Special Committee of Independent directors called for a supplementary report from Moonlight to relook at the valuation before signing the Definitive Merger Agreement (DMA) with QSCL.
