The Kautilya Blog & Newsletter
Advisory guides and deal-structure teardowns from the Kautilya team — market intelligence and acquisition frameworks on the left, deal-by-deal newsletter issues on the right.
The Kautilya Blog
Market intelligence, deal breakdowns, and acquisition frameworks from the Kautilya advisory team.
A plain-language guide to what a private placement memorandum is, who uses one, what it contains, and why it matters to anyone raising or investing in private capital.
Read Article →Pocket Deals is Kautilya's newsletter for acquisition opportunities under $100K, sourced from public marketplaces and off-market inbound. Here's how it's structured, what buyers receive, and why it exists.
Read Article →A plain-language guide to sell-side M&A advisory: what it is, how the process works, what it costs, and how to tell if you actually need one.
Read Article →Where acquisition capital actually comes from, what investors underwrite before they read your plan, and the work you must finish before your first investor conversation.
Read Article →How Kautilya runs direct-mail deal origination for a buy-side client: 2,000 letters, person-verified decision-makers, sub-10% RTS, and a mandate that shifted mid-campaign.
Read Article →New to acquiring a business? Learn what a buy-side M&A advisor does, why buyers in India use one, and how the process works — explained simply.
Read Article →A plain-English guide to search funds: how search and acquisition capital work, the 1.5x step-up, searcher equity vesting, target company criteria, and where the model fits — and doesn't — in India.
Read Article →Family-owned businesses make up most SME listings in India. Here's what makes acquiring one different: succession dynamics, informal records, and diligence red flags.
Read Article →The Kautilya Newsletter
Deal-structure teardowns from Kautilya's advisory desk: buyer, target, structure, and a scorecard for every Indian M&A deal worth studying.
Subscribe on Beehiiv →Everstone paid about $200M for 80% of bootstrapped Wingify (VWO), then bought a startup, merged with AB Tasty and led a $150M rights issue within a year.
Read Teardown →CVC paid ₹3,425 Cr for a 26.47% block of Aavas Financiers, then offered the public the same exit — and almost nobody took it. The buyer landed at 48.96%, controlling one of India's largest affordable-housing lenders but short of a majority. Within a year it replaced the CEO and the stock fell about 25%. Kautilya's teardown of the deal structure and what came after.
Read Teardown →CVC bought HealthCare Global at ₹130 a share in 2020 and handed it to KKR at ₹445 five years later — a $400M deal and a ~3.4x return. No founder cashed out, no business changed what it does. Only the owner did. Kautilya's teardown of India's largest PE-to-PE hospital sale.
Read Teardown →Sun Pharma is paying $11.75B for Organon, a Merck spin-off, in India's largest-ever overseas pharma acquisition. Only $3.68B is equity; the rest is assumed debt, financed by an 11-bank syndicate that includes an Indian state bank for the first time. Kautilya's deal-structure teardown of the price, the premium, and the financing.
Read Teardown →ChrysCapital paid ₹1,445.89 Cr for 70.68% of Novartis India, its first pharma buyout in 27 years. The mandatory open offer was priced at ₹860.64 — only 40 shares were tendered. Kautilya's teardown of the deal structure, the two-tier pricing, and what it means for MNC exits in India.
Read Teardown →Coforge acquired Silicon Valley's Encora at a $2.35B enterprise value and paid for it entirely in new shares, no cash. Advent International and Warburg Pincus walked away with 21.8% of Coforge and two board seats instead of a $1.89B check. Here's how the preferential allotment worked, why the sellers wanted stock, and what it signals about Indian IT M&A.
Read Teardown →JSW Paints bought Akzo Nobel India (Dulux) for up to ₹12,915 Cr and became India's No. 4 paints player overnight. Full breakdown of the deal structure, valuation, and buy-vs-build lessons.
Read Teardown →Lockheed Martin paid $3.45B for Ultra Maritime, an undersea-warfare business Advent International bought in 2022 and grew from $494M to an estimated $784M in revenue. Here's the deal, the multiple, and what it means for buy-side value creation.
Read Teardown →REA Group didn't sell Housing.com for cash — it swapped operating control for a 24.9% stake in Aurum PropTech. Kautilya's deal-structure teardown of India's biggest proptech consolidation move of 2026.
Read Teardown →KKR turned a Rs. 3,100 Cr pharma acquisition into a Rs. 25,689 Cr exit in five years. Here is what the 24.8x EBITDA Torrent-JB Chemicals deal means for founder-owned pharma businesses in India — and how to close the valuation gap before you engage a bank.
Read Teardown →