About

Established in nine countries, Aster DM Healthcare is a regional healthcare enterprise with significant international operations. In spite of its size and complexity, the company only introduced a dedicated legal function two years ago. Since this time, the department has grown to play a crucial role in the commercial activities of the company. Led by Ajith Madhavan, the team has hit the ground running and are now seen as an integral player in all the business’s activities and are highly praised for their ability to manage more than 300 entities in nine jurisdictions. One external lawyer credits the legal team with ‘driving numerous developments and improvements to the legal structures implemented by Aster Group, from the beginning to complete implementation, working very hard and not giving up even if challenges come their way’. Last year the legal team ensured that more than 40 of the entities in the Aster group complied with UAE Companies Law amendment through changes in the Memorandum of Association, a task that was achieved in over just one month. Following the legal team’s swift work, 95% of the group’s entities are now in compliance with the new Company Law. Making a tangible impact to the way the company conducts its business, the team also introduced the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) trust structure by replacing individual UAE national shareholder. This played a vital role during the groups IPO of the Indian parent company on the Bombay Stock Exchange, this process in itself involved an unprecedented volume of documents concerning multiple jurisdictions. One nominator sums up the consensus on Aster Group’s legal team by praising its ‘excellence, professionalism and very high standards of individual conduct’.