Natasha Agarwal
Natasha specialises in commercial disputes and arbitration, disputes related to oppression and mismanagement and shareholder agreements, employee disputes and court approved mergers. On the non-contentious aspects, she specialises in joint ventures, strategic acquisitions, commercial contracts, and corporate governance and advisory. She routinely advises and represents clients in the IT / ITeS, education and manufacturing sectors, among others.
She also advises and represents clients on disputes related to white collar laws (including, Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002) and on anti-defection aspects and election disputes. She is empanelled as the Standing Counsel for Election Commission of India before the High Court of Orissa.
On contentious aspects, Natasha has advised on the following matters:
- Successfully represented one of India’s leading K12 school operators in an expedited arbitration under Rules of the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration, arising out of a school management contract, against a school landowner and public trust owning a leading school, including securing an interim order under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 from Commercial Courts at Bhubaneswar, Odisha
- Bengaluru-based LLP engaged in automobile distribution in arbitration of an inter se partners’ dispute and breaches of the limited liability partnership agreement
- A leading Odisha based construction company in their arbitration related to a construction dispute against National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO)
- Successfully represented the Minority founder of a Bengaluru based SaaS company on shareholder disputes, governance and oppression mismanagement claims before National Company Law Tribunal, Bengaluru, and on subsequent mediation, exit and settlement of all disputes
- Successfully represented a promoter director and a Hindu Undivided Family of a family-owned real estate company on shareholder disputes, governance issues and oppression and mismanagement claims including related to illegal transmission of shares, among others, before National Company Law Tribunal, Cuttack
- Successfully represented the Founder promoters of an IT / ITES company on shareholder disputes, governance issues and oppression and mismanagement claims including on forfeiture of fully paid-up shares resulting in oppression and mismanagement before National Company Law Tribunal, Cuttack
- A former promoter-director of an IT / ITES based logistics company in relation to regulatory proceedings and show cause notices issued by the Registrar of Companies, Karnataka, before the High Court of Karnataka
- Indian subsidiary of a leading US based Drone technology provider in the renewable energy space on various employee related disputes
- Successfully represented a Gurgaon based electricity distribution company and its CEO on criminal proceedings arising out of contractual breaches initiated by a State-owned electric utility company engaged in electricity transmission and distribution
- With Khaitan & Co. as the lead counsel, successfully represented a leading infrastructure construction and consultation services company in a dispute before the High Court of Orissa, in connection with a tender award
- With Khaitan & Co. as the lead counsel, represented Vedanta Limited in connection with demand and show cause notices issued by GST authorities before the High Court of Orissa
- With Khaitan & Co. as the lead counsel, represented ESL Limited in connection with demand and show cause notices issued by GST authorities before the High Court of Orissa
- Mr. Jogesh Kumar Singh, a sitting member of Odisha State Legislative Assembly and the returned candidate from Sundergarh constituency in defending the election petition in relation to allegations of corrupt practice, filed under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 before the High Court of Orissa
- Mr. Saroj Kumar Meher, a Biju Janata Dal candidate contesting for the Odisha State Legislative Assembly from Patnagarh constituency in the election petition filed under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 challenging the acceptance of his nomination papers of Mr. Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo by the Returning Officer, before the High Court of Orissa
- Mr. Manoj Kumar Panda, an elector from Berhampur Assembly Constituency challenging the election of Mr K. Anil Kumar, the returned candidate from Bharatiya Janata Party and a member of the Odisha State Legislative Assembly, before the High Court of Orissa
- Mr. Ashok Chandra Panda, a Biju Janata Dal candidate contesting for the Odisha State Legislative Assembly from Ekamra Assembly Constituency in his election petition against Mr. Babu Singh, the returned candidate, before the High Court of Orissa
- Mrs. Sarmistha Sethi, a Biju Janata Dal candidate contesting for Lok Sabha General Elections 2024 from Jajpur Parliamentary Constituency in challenging the election of BJP’s Rabindra Narayan Behera in an election petition filed under the under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 before the High Court of Orissa
- Mr. Giriraj Singh Majhi,an elector from Kantabanji Assembly Constituency in the election petition challenging the election of Mr. Laxman Bag, the returned candidate from Bharatiya Janata Party filed under the under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 before the High Court of Orissa.
On corporate commercial aspects, Natasha has advised the following clients:
- Germany’s TD Holding GmbH, specialists in flexible shafts and helix cables, on their joint venture with ASK Automotive Limited, an Indian listed company engaged in the auto ancillary sector
- Skandysys Private Limited on its acquisition by Marvell Technologies Inc, a NASDAQ listed US entity
- A Bangalore based tech company operating a technology platform for automation and waste segregation on its investment in a Luxembourg based European deep tech investment firm and family offices of an Indian real estate developer
- A Bengaluru based manufacturing company on investments from a London based PE Fund with the transaction valued at 35$ million
- 73 Strings, a leading AI tech company, backed by Goldman, Blackstone and Fidelity on their commercial agreements and SaaS contracts with tier-1 private equity and global private capital institutions
- East India’s leading K12 school operator (a not-for-profit trust and school management company) in the K-12 Sector in structuring, management and acquisitions of educational K-12 institutions across east India
- India’s leading PR and Advertising agency in drafting various contracts for software development, and other commercial arrangements with software related service providers drafting policies and conducting trainings for safe use of AI tools at the workplace
- A leading infrastructure company, on diligence of the construction equipment manufacturing unit of a leading Indian engineering and construction company
- Manjushree Technopack, a PE-backed manufacturing company on their diligence and acquisition of immovable assets leased by Odisha Industrial Development Corporation Limited for Oricon’s packaging business, with Khaitan & Co as the lead counsel
- Electrosteel Castings Limited, a leading listed Indian Company on acquisition and diligence of land parcels of 540 acres in Dhenkanal, Odisha
- A listed Indian Company on acquisition and diligence of industrial land parcels of 350 acres in Western Odisha
Natasha was previously associated with KT Advisors LLP and has advised and represented the following:
- India’s leading listed manufacturer of automotive components on their intragroup merger before the National Company law Tribunal, Delhi;
- A leading listed rail wagon manufacturer on their demerger of infra-rail and green energy division to its wholly owned subsidiary through a scheme of demerger and arrangement;
- A listed cement manufacturing company along with its publicly listed subsidiary, and its two privately held wholly owned subsidiaries in the cement manufacturing business in their intra group restructuring through a scheme of amalgamation and arrangement; and
- A public listed company in the cement manufacturing business in their corporate, legal (litigation) and real estate diligence on a listed company in the same sector in connection with the then proposed acquisition of controlling stake in the target company.