Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised the syndicate of banks led by Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley and including Barclays, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Credit Suisse Securities Limited, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Securities, acting as Joint Lead Managers and Joint Bookrunners, on Numericable Group’s €4.7 billion capital increase.
The capital increase with preferential subscription rights is the largest in France since 2009 and will allow Numericable Group to finance the €13.5 billion cash element of its acquisition of SFR. SFR is the leading alternative telecommunications operator in France, with a combined turnover of €10.2 billion during 2013 and more than 21 million mobile customers in June 2014.
On June 20, 2014 Numericable signed an agreement with Vivendi to acquire SFR. The agreement provides a direct sale of part of the SFR shares, the remaining shares being subject to a contribution by Vivendi to Numericable. Vivendi will hold 20 percent of Numericable-SFR Group’s capital after taking into account the contribution. The acquisition was authorized by the French Competition Authority on October 27, 2014 and its completion remains subject to approval at Numericable’s general shareholder meeting, which is scheduled for November 27, 2014.
The White & Case team in Paris which advised on the transaction was led by partners Thomas Le Vert and Séverin Robillard with support from associates Tatiana Uskova, François Carrey and Antonin Deslandes. Partner Colin Chang and counsel Max Turner advised on U.S. law aspects, counsel Juliette Goyer advised on regulatory aspects and partner Alexandre Ippolito, with support from associate Marcus Schmidbauer, advised on tax matters.
Source: www.whitecase.com
