Upasana Rao
Partner - Corporate, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)
Corporate | Mergers and Acquisitions | Private Equity
Overview
Upasana Rao is a Partner in the Corporate practice, with a focus on mergers & acquisitions, private equity, venture capital and corporate restructuring. Her transactional experience includes a number of share and asset acquisitions, debt/equity investments, joint ventures and distress assets acquisitions. She regularly advises on regulatory matters, corporate governance and conflict management in investments.
Upasana has advised on transactions across various sectors, including energy and infrastructure, alternate real estate assets such as data centres, financial services, retail, logistics, as well as venture capital and private equity in SaaS and technology start-ups including mobility, e-commerce, healthcare and financial services.
In recent years, Upasana has advised on several impact investments in the areas of microfinance, affordable housing, sustainable agriculture, clean energy and waste management.
Upasana regularly provides inputs to industry associations and government for policy deliberations and advocacy. She was part of the drafting team for India’s Bankruptcy Code, has contributed inputs to the Ministry of Commerce on the issue of liberalising foreign investment in retail, and prepared a research report for the Ministry of Civil Aviation on developing aircraft leasing and financing in India. She is engaged in policy advocacy with the impact Council of India for creating an ecosystem for sustainable investing.
Education
Kings College London, University of London
Symbiosis Law School, Pune
Admissions
The Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa
Industry body memberships
- Committee for Ecosystem Development, India Impact Investor’s Council
- Consultant member, Indo-French Chamber of Commerce
- Consultant member, Indian Chamber of Commerce in Korea
- International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC)
- Member, FICCI Task Force on ESG
- Vice Chair, International M&A Joint Venture Committee, ABA International Law Section
Select representative clients/matters
Clients she has worked with include corporates, bp, ST Telemedia, Statkraft A.S, Altstom, GE, Wilmar, Aon, IHH Healthcare Berhad, Telenor, SAPA, Mitel, Pentair, Boeing Capital, and investors DEG, Varde Partners, Goldman Sachs, Naspers, Everstone, IFC, Proparco, NIIF, EIG Partners, Actis and Infraco Asia.
Recognition
- Notable Practitioner for M&A and PE – IFLR1000
- Women in M&A Awards Finalist – IFLR/Euromoney
