Stephenson Harwood has landed a lead role advising on a significant UK investment by an Indian company.

Corporate partner Pawan Sharma advised bicycle company Hero Group on its £40m acquisition of UK call centre company Telecom Service Company (TSC).

Sharma said: “After Tata’s acquisition of Corus, this is the most significant piece of investment outside of India. It demonstrates how dedicated India is to increasing foreign investment.” Indian giant Tata purchased Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus at the beginning of 2007. Tata turned to Herbert Smith for advice while Corus instructed Slaughter and May (The Lawyer, 31 January).

Sharma said India was now the UK’s second biggest source of foreign direct investment and the IT sector was increasingly looking to the UK as a gateway for investment in the rest of Europe.

“Foreign investment is very important to India and we hope to see more investment in the UK,” he added.

TSC instructed Eversheds partners Mark Spinner and Kuljit Ghata-Aura. Ashurst partner James Hogben advised ICICI Bank on financing.

Stephenson Harwood has focused its international strategy on India and Asia and worked on more AIM listings than any other firm in 2006.

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