Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Antin Infrastructure Partners on the acquisition of 2,200 masts from Bouygues Telecom. France Pylônes Services, the company created to hold and operate the masts, will be 85% owned by Antin Infrastructure Partners with the remaining 15% held by Bouygues Telecom.
The transaction is a result of a streamlining strategy applied by Europe’s telecoms operators, under which they are opting to sell their ‘passive infrastructure’, such as radio masts, while retaining their ‘active’ technical equipment.
The Herbert Smith Freehills team was composed of Christophe Lefort (partner, energy and infrastructure), assisted by Edouard Thomas (of counsel, corporate), Christopher Theris, Magali Fernandes, Lorraine Arthur de la Villarmois, Evelyne Girio (associates) on the corporate aspects, Sergio Sorinas (partner) on competition law and Mathias Dantin on industrial and regulatory issues.
Christophe Lefort and Edouard Thomas commented: “We are delighted to have participated in creating the first dedicated telecommunications infrastructure operator in France, which gave us an opportunity to meet the legal and operational challenges of this transaction thanks to the complementary interaction between our corporate and infrastructure teams.”
Head of the firm’s Infrastructure practice, Adrian Clough, commented: “This marks another major success for our international infrastructure practice, which has been significantly enhanced by the recent Herbert Smith Freehills merger. Our Infrastructure team in Paris is going from strength to strength.”
Other advisors include:
Antin Infrastructure Partners was advised by Freshfields, led by Fabrice Grillo, partner, on acquisition financing issues.
The mandated arrangers and lenders were advised by Linklaters LLP, led by Kathryn Merryfield, partner.
Bouygues Telecom was advised by Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, led by Christophe Gaschin, partner.
