Completing the Deal: Ashvan Lucraz from the Mauritius office of Conyers Dill & Pearman
Ashvan Luckraz is an associate in the Mauritius Office of Conyers Dill & Pearman. His practice covers civil/commercial litigation and arbitration, with a particular emphasis on insolvency, contractual matters, shareholder disputes, and urgent interim relief. He is also experienced in all aspects of corporate and commercial law, with particular emphasis on finance, mergers and acquisitions and investment funds. He advises a wide variety of clients, including financial institutions, corporate service providers, international and local businesses, and High-Net-Worth individuals. Here he discusses his M&A work and his predictions for the future of the market in Asia.
What are the unique challenges of operating in Mauritius?
The challenges include the recent changes made to the double taxation avoidance agreement between Mauritius and India, which has brought uncertainty to the market. Furthermore, the advent of GAAR in India and the incidence of BEPS and CRS across major financial centres are bringing the Mauritius corporate structures under more scrutiny.
Your practice covers civil/commercial litigation and arbitration, but you also advise on M&A – could you tell us a bit about your M&A practice?
Conyers is part a network of law firms with offices in all of the major offshore hubs across Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and in the Middle East. My M & A practice has been focused on financial and corporate work when it comes to the energy and infrastructure area including, acquisitions and investments in the oil and gas, energy and social infrastructure sectors. My practice is strongest in cross-border work, acting primarily for holding and investment companies.
Can you detail a recent merger or acquisition that you advised on? What were some of the issues that you were faced with?
Unfortunately, the details of the transaction are confidential. A recent acquisition I have advised on concerns an international petroleum group investing in the East African markets. The issues we faced in this transaction concerned the enforceability and the restructuring of the security currently in place at the level of the operating company in the East African state.
What do you think the next 12-24 months hold for the M&A market?
In terms of the Asian markets, where we are fairly active, the market has been muted in the last few months but it is expected to pick up in the coming months. More generally, with Brexit and the EU still finding its pace, I am expecting the market to experience some turbulent times.
What are some of the current projects that you are working on? What lies on the horizon for you in 2018?
I am working on a couple of restructuring and contentious mandates and am hoping to be more active on this front in 2018.
About the Mauritius Office of Conyers Dill & Pearman
The Mauritius office of Conyers Dill & Pearman was established in 2009. The Mauritius team, globally recognised as top-tiered, is well-respected by clients for being consistently excellent, forward-thinking and responsive. As a premier corporate and commercial offshore law firm, the team has a wealth of experience in developing holding and investment company structures and investment funds, asset financing, securitizations, Islamic finance, property finance, M&A, stock exchange listings, formation and structuring of joint ventures, private equity and project finance matters across a variety of sectors.
Website: https://www.conyersdill.com/locations/view/mauritius
