Leading law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP announced today that it has represented Dubai-based Friendi Group in its strategic partnership agreement with Virgin Group to establish Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa.
Friendi Group is the leading Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) in the Middle East. Under this agreement, Friendi will combine its operations in Oman, Jordan and Saudi Arabia with Virgin Mobile South Africa, creating a new regional mobile telecom with more than 1 million customers. Virgin Group will also become the largest individual shareholder of the combined group, holding a significant minority stake as part of the agreement with Friendi.
Headquartered in Dubai, Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa plans to expand into a variety of new markets and grow its customer base to 5 million by 2015, and will be led by Friendi CEO & Founder Mikkel Vinter.
The Seyfarth Shaw team was led by partner David Warburg, and included partner Charles Modlin and associate Robert Michalovsky, all of whom are members of the firm’s Corporate Department in New York.
