The representative matters below are drawn from more than eighty engagements I worked on during my tenure at a global investigations firm. They include over sixty investigations of Indian companies and more than twenty background investigations of promoters, directors and executives. About ten of them were pre-IPO integrity checks for one global investment bank, ahead of Indian listings and placements.
In an Indian deal, the integrity risk usually sits with the founders and promoters, and sometimes with the target itself. Much of what shows that risk is in the legal record: court files, regulatory actions, and disputes that never reached the press. I read that record as a lawyer, alongside the usual investigative work, and the findings arrive within the deal timetable.
Public filings show a promoter’s other ventures, directorships and related-party dealings. A fuller picture comes from discreet inquiries with people who have dealt with the promoter before, such as former partners and lenders. The inquiries reach the smaller cities where many targets are based.
The work is instructed under a Kovel letter from the fund’s US counsel, an arrangement that brings the investigator’s work inside the lawyer’s privilege, so it can be protected from the start. The report is written so the deal team can decide whether to proceed, and on what terms. Where something serious turns up, a deeper investigation can follow as a separate engagement under counsel.
An engagement can cover:
Because the work is run from India, the fees suit mid-market deals. An engagement starts with a call about the target and the timetable. If you have an Indian target in view, do reach out and I will take a look.