Investment is the backbone of any start-up. WAUM Team helps source funds, acts as a bridge between the investor and the Client for requirement-based financial investments in terms of feasibility study, negotiation and documentation for funding requirements for investors in India. For external (out of India) investment or investment by parent company for subsidiaries, we additionally ensure compliance with foreign exchange regulations.
Areas of Expertise:

• Identifying investors
• Investment negotiation
• Drafting and execution of term sheets and agreements
• Regulatory compliances associated with investments

In India there are multiple ways in which a business organization may be formed. The most common form of legal entity structure is a Company followed by the LLP. A Company may be further bifurcated into Public Company (which has no restriction on the maximum number of shareholders), Listed Company (a public company listed with a stock exchange in India), Private Company (closely held with maximum 50 shareholders excluding ESOP) and Indian branch office (on a mark-up basis) of a foreign corporation. The Memorandum and Articles of Association (Charter documents) govern the functioning of a Company. The LLP is formed based on an agreement between the partners and the management team is christened as Partners (and not Directors as in a Company) of the LLP. We support Client’s business registration as a Company, LLP or Partnership. The selection of the proper business structure is based on several factors including funding requirements.
Areas of Expertise:

• Investment structuring and legal due diligence
• Application documents and feasibility study reports
• Drafting and negotiation of company formation documents, including joint venture contracts, articles of association, and technology license agreements
• Government approvals and registration for Company/LLP/Partnership formation and related procedures

Whereas funding is the backbone, compliance is the lifeline of any corporation. The buzz word of today is corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. It has gained increased thrust and importance in the functioning of a business house. For the best businesses, focus on corporate compliances is first and foremost. No wonder why a sustainable business organization is the one which is best compliant. There are various facets and levels of compliances, each of which requires different levels of technical knowledge and competency levels. WAUM Team has a mix of expertise to handle compliance requirements in all areas, across industries.
Areas of Expertise:

• Advising client on compliance requirements
• Timely reminders on compliance requirements
• Maintaining statutory books and records
• Maintaining accounting and payroll
• Installing best practices relating to business compliances

A pre-requisite to achieve compliance is by giving proper and timely intimations to the regulatory as to satisfactory levels of compliance with the statutes of the land. In India, the regulatory system is divided into central government departments, state government departments and the local authorities. Each authority has its own specific and exclusive powers on matters entrusted in the statute. For example, whereas income tax, forex laws provisioning for retirement funds (PF) are governed by central legislations having representative offices locally, stamp duty and VAT are governed by the state enactments and trade license is regulated locally. There is a concurrent set of regulatory requirements where the centre makes the law which is enforced by the state government, eg. Labour laws (where majority of laws are central laws, regulated by state government departments) and Pollution control, which is a central law for which state departments carries out the enforcement. WAUM has maintained a healthy and ethical relationship with the Government officials and represents clients’ on matters apart from filings.
Areas of Expertise:

• Filling and filing of compliance forms
• Expertise on both technology based online filing and offline hard-copy filings
• Support representation services for assessments, audit, inspection and appeals
• Compliance tracker and snapshots
• Support compounding of offences and litigation

The principal indication of a flourishing business is its growth. Business cannot tolerate saturation in terms of businesses that it does, employees they engage or profit they make. Business restructuring not only includes stepping into the next level of business but also includes reorganization of the corporate structure to achieve higher levels of reach and profit. The two critical components of the restructuring plan are funding and deployment of funds. Whether it is internal funding within the group or funding from bankers or funding partners, the business needs to do a health check-up – the business valuation and study of the new business format. A business when it is valued with accuracy attracts more investments. Once the investment is finalized, the organization has to go through a set of regulatory procedures for bringing in the funds and utilizing it. WAUM Team will take care of the entire exercise of structuring the restructuring and regulatory compliances. You have to just think about what business to do with the funds.
Areas of Expertise:

• Financial study and recognition of the need for restructuring
• Advise on feasible business structure
• Negotiation with funding partners and/or investors
• Regulatory compliances relating to business restructuring

Whether it is growing business, growing needs or short term deficits, business needs money. Types of investments are many but a good business always wants to study about its appetite for funds, returns for repayment and ease in transaction before finalizing the mode of funding. A clearly studied financial statement will open up options for bargain but a financial statement not well studied will have to suffer with lesser funding but higher rates.
Areas of Expertise:

• Syndicate loans, bilateral loans and club loans, foreign institutional finance
• Project finance in major industries
• Merger/acquisition finance, leveraged financing real estate financing, assets financing and financing leases
• Trade-related financing, financial derivatives and structured finance
• Debt restructuring, bankruptcy reorganization and disposal of non-performing assets

WAUM Team’s intellectual property (IP) experts have worked on both trademarks and certification trademarks related matters and helps clients on registration and maintenance requirements relating to patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and unfair competition in a wide range of industries such as telecommunications, electronics, software, semiconductors, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, electronics, media and traditional industries. In addition to the regular IP practices for clients' business transactions and daily operations and management, we support and manage client’s effort in enforcing IP rights through litigation.
Areas of Expertise:

• Advising on IP applications/registrations
• Transfer and license of IP rights (including import and export of technology)
• Assisting in setting up IP rights protection systems
• IP infringement investigations and claims resolution and IP-related litigations

Reorganizing shareholding structure perpetuates business; diversification expands anti-trust supports healthy business relationship and anti-bribery increases corporate image multi-fold. These are essentially the areas which any due diligence would definitely look for.
Areas of Expertise:

• Advising clients on anti-trust and competition-related issues regarding abuses of a dominant position or other anticompetitive behaviors, such as predatory pricing, tying, price gouging, refusal to deal, price-fixing, and cartels
• Representing clients in anti-trust and competition-related investigations and proceedings, including civil and administrative cases
• Preparing and filing to the proper authorities anti-trust applications regarding cross-border or off-shore merger and acquisition transactions
• Analyzing anti-trust implications of proposed mergers, acquisitions and other forms of business combinations

The legal drafting experts at WAUM Team has worked on a variety of agreements, both territorial and international, in various industries including manufacturing, software, telecommunications, industries, information technology, BPO, core engineering, trading, and other product houses and services.
Areas of Expertise:

• Drafting and review of contracts, agreements and letters of intent
• Best judgment and client focused approach
• Master Services Agreements, Trading Agreement, Sale Agreement, Product Development Agreement, Service Level Agreements
• Vendor/supplier/procurement agreements
• Advising clients on pro’s and con’s
• Solution based approach rather than impossibility analysis

We assist clients not only in establishing labour management systems and handling human resources problems, but also in settling complicated employment disputes.
Areas of Expertise:

• Drafting and negotiating individual and collective labour contracts, training agreements, non-competition agreements and confidentiality agreements
• Preparing employee manuals and drafting company rules and regulations
• Assisting in handling employee transfer, lay-offs and displacements in corporate acquisitions, liquidations and restructuring proceedings
• Advising on economic and other kinds of dismissal and lay-offs
• Advising on labour protection, work-related injuries and occupational disease
• Advising in resolution of labour disputes