13 July 2009

Azam & Rai drafts tripartite software licensing agreement between Pakistani, British and U.S. software companies

Sector: Information Technology Laws
Azam & Rai was engaged to draft a tripartite software licensing agreement between a Pakistani software development company, a British software company and the U.S. subsidiary of a leading French software company on the licensing of two software solutions developed by the Pakistani software development company and its affiliated company in the United Kingdom to be rebranded and sold under license in North America by the U.S. subsidiary of a French software company.

10 July 2009

Azam & Rai advises on cross-border multi-party project along with two leading U.S. law firms

Sector: Corporate Laws
Azam & Rai was engaged as lead lawyer in the redrafting of the Articles of Association of two limited liability companies - Immersion (Private) Limited (Immersion), a project development company and Ansaar Management Company (Private) Limited (AMC), a project management company.

AMC focuses on managing projects for investors in the affordable housing sector. Immersion - a joint venture between AMC (Pakistan), Acumen Fund Inc. (USA) (Acumen) and Oasis Capital (Mauritius) Ltd. (Oasis) - has been established with the objective of developing affordable low-income housing in Pakistan with funding from Acumen and Oasis.

Acumen is a USD $50 million non-profit fund that uses philanthropic funds from the private sector and injects them into financially sustainable businesses that focus on lower income segments. Oasis is a USD $30 million for-profit social venture capital fund that focuses on providing capital to businesses that serve the lower income segments.

Also involved in the project is the Geneva-based fund manager for Oasis, namely Bamboo Finance, a commercial global investment advisory firm specializing in the financing of social entrepreneurship and its sister concern, Blue Orchard, a USD $800 million fund that offers loans to microfinance institutes globally.

As part of its responsibilities, Azam & Rai advised on the implementation of the Shareholders Agreements (based on New York laws) entered into between AMC, Immersion, Acumen and Oasis and their compliance with Pakistani company law. The New York offices of two leading U.S. law firms - White & Case LLP and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP advised Acumen and AMC respectively on the drafting of the Shareholders Agreements and Share Subscription Agreements for this project.

Azam & Rai is also representing both Immersion and AMC in corporate implementation, due diligence and statutory compliance matters before the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

See White & Case's note on this project:
http://www.whitecase.com/publications_04202009/