Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises Cellnex Telecom on the acquisition, for approximately EUR 10 bn, of the European telecommunications tower assets of CK Hutchison Holdings

Clifford Chance advised Cellnex Telecom, Europe’s leading operator of wireless telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructures, on the acquisition of the European telecommunications tower assets of CK Hutchison Holdings ("Hutchison").

This is a transformational deal - structured in six independent transactions - for Cellnex Telecom which creates a strategic alliance with Hutchison and entails the acquisition of 24,600 telecommunications sites, as well as an investment plan to deploy a further 5,250 new sites. The agreement consists of an initial investment of close to 10 billion euros, of which some 8.6 billion euros will be paid in cash and the remainder in newly issued shares in Cellnex Telecom. These shares will represent approximately 4.8% of its share capital, once the acquisition is carried out.

Through this deal, Cellnex consolidates its presence in Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom and enters three new European markets (Austria, Denmark and Sweden), thereby increasing its geographic presence to 12 countries and attaining a total of approximately 103,000 telecommunications sites.

Corporate Partners Joel Ziff (London), Guillermo Guardia (Spain) and Javier García de Enterría (Spain), TMT Partner André Duminy, Antitrust Partner Alex Nourry, with support from Senior Associates Nick Spurrell, Riaz Pirmohamed, Mark Fisher, Jamie Andrew, Julian Feiner and Chandralekha Ghosh, Director of Taxation Simon Corzberg, Sam Parry, Philippa Lawson and Jodie Chan, advised Cellnex Telecom on the M&A process.

Finance partner Epifanio Perez and senior associate Felipe Font advised on the financing of the transaction in Spain.

Note to editors

Full team: The Tax team comprised of partner Nicholas Mace, Director of Taxation Simon Corzberg, and senior associate Julian Feiner. The Real Estate team included partner Alis Pay, senior associate Rob Donell and associate Sophie Romain. The environment and planning team included Head of the UK Real Estate practice Nigel Howorth and Senior Associate Anneke Theelen. The Employment team included partner Michael Crossan and associate Alice Rockall.

The Spanish team also included Corporate lawyer José Maria Vilaseca Counsel Maria Begoña Barrantes and associate Ana Latorre advised on antitrust matters.

The Milan corporate team included partner Umberto Penco Salvi, associate Vittorio Novelli and trainee Lorena Loos. The Rome antitrust team included partner Luciano Di Via, senior associate Pasquale Leone and associate Laura Tresoldi.

Yufei Liao from the Hong Kong office provided HK listing advice.