Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Cellnex, Europe’s leading operator of wireless telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructures, on the conclusion of the purchase of 100% of Hivory, a French telecommunications tower operator, from Altice France and Starlight Holdco.
Hivory manages the 10,500 sites that mainly serve the French mobile phone operator SFR. The agreement represents an investment of €5.2 billion by Cellnex, which will be accompanied by an eight-year programme totalling approximately €900 million for the roll-out of up to 2,500 new sites, among other projects.
The operation, announced last February, was this week green-lighted by the French Competition Authority. This approval states that Cellnex must divest c. 3,200 rooftops out of the total which the group will manage in France following the Hivory integration.
Herbert Smith Freehills advised Cellnex with a team which consisted of partner Edouard Thomas, of counsel Cyril Boulignat, assisted by associates Frédéric Tual, Giuliano Lastrucci and Yasmine Houichi on corporate matters; partner Sergio Sorinas and of counsel Marie Louvet on competition issues; project partner Christophe Lefort assisted by associates Thomas Herman, Sina Abadie and François Adao; partner Eric Fiszelson on financing issues; partner Sophie Brézin, of counsel Elisabeth Debrégeas, and associate Astrid Olivier on employment law aspects.
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