Karthik Ashwin Thiagarajan is Of Counsel in the Singapore office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.  He focuses on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate restructuring matters in India and Southeast Asia.

Mr. Thiagarajan has assisted companies and investors across a variety of industries, including the information technology, fin-tech, telecommunication, logistics and consumer goods sectors.  He has also advised clients on several cross-border restructuring matters in Southeast Asia.

In addition to his mergers and acquisitions experience, Mr. Thiagarajan also advises clients on internal investigations and anti-corruption reviews in the region.  In the recent past, Mr. Thiagarajan has assisted clients with investigations in the financial services, information technology, electronics and fast-moving consumer goods sectors in India and Southeast Asia.

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2021 recognizes Mr. Thiagarajan as a key lawyer for India-related transactions and notes that he “is skilled at advising US public companies on their investments into India.”  He was also lauded by a client for being “on top of his trade” in the India Business Law Journal’s 2019 “Leaders of the pack” report.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Mr. Thiagarajan worked as an international lawyer with Drew & Napier (2006-2011), a leading law firm in Singapore, where he assisted with technology, media and telecommunications, cross-border restructuring, mergers and acquisitions and joint venture transactions in Southeast Asia and India.

Mr. Thiagarajan received his LL.M. from Harvard University in 2009.  He graduated from law school (B.A., LL.B. (Hons.)) from National Law School of India University, where he served as the Chief Editor of the Indian Journal of Law and Technology.  Mr. Thiagarajan served as a law clerk to Justice Ruma Pal of the Supreme Court of India between 2005 and 2006.

Mr. Thiagarajan is admitted to practice in India and New York.  He speaks English, Hindi, Tamil and Kannada.

Representative Experience

• Kimberly-Clark Corporation in its acquisition of Softex Indonesia, a leader in the fast-growing Indonesian personal care market, for approximately US$1.2 billion from a group of shareholders including CVC Capital Partners Asia Pacific IV.
• Uber Technologies, Inc. in the sale of its Southeast Asia ride and food-delivery businesses to Grab, a provider of ride-hailing, ride sharing and logistics services in Southeast Asia, in exchange for a 27.5% stake in Grab.
• Voya Financial, a U.S. financial, retirement, investment and insurance company based in New York, in a joint venture in India with the SLK Group, a leading technology and consulting company to provide business process outsourcing and software development services.
• Kimberly-Clark Corporation in the acquisition of Hindustan Unilever Limited’s 50% shareholding in Kimberly-Clark Lever Private Limited, a joint venture company between Hindustan Unilever Limited and Kimberly-Clark Corporation.
• Colfax Corporation in the acquisition of EWAC Alloys Limited, an Indian wholly owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Ltd, by its subsidiary, ESAB Holdings Ltd.
• Celanese Corporation in the acquisition of Next Polymers Limited, an Indian engineering thermoplastics company.
• Wolverine World Wide, Inc. in various matters relating to its operations and forays in Asia.
• Acumen Fund, Inc. in various investments in India.
• Founders of Happy Marketer Pte. Ltd., a leading Southeast Asian digital marketing agency headquartered in Singapore, to Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd., a global network and specialist/multi-market brands.
• The Kraft Heinz Company in the sale of Heinz India Private Limited to Zydus Wellness, an Indian consumer health products company.