Sectors
Telecoms
Digital infrastructure

Leaders in digital infrastructure

Linklaters has been involved in some of the digital infrastructure sector’s leading deals for many years. The remit of the team has widened as the market has grown to incorporate a growing number of digital infrastructure assets, including fibre, data centres and towers.

Having advised corporates, funds and financial institutions on some of the most high-profile, complex and innovative deals in the sector, we understand the key issues from multiple angles spanning commercial drivers, technical issues, regulatory views to financing strategies, and can use our significant tactical expertise to achieve the best possible outcomes for you.

We are uniquely well placed to support clients in the digital infrastructure space as our integrated cross-practice global network combines our leading M&A team, telecoms sector experts (including commercial, regulatory and foreign investment) and financing specialists (including acquisition, CAPEX and infrastructure financing).

This means we can offer the highest quality service across the entire digital infrastructure spectrum.

Star magenta

Digital Infrastructure Deal of the Year, Global
Digital Infrastructure Deal of the Year, Europe
SFR fibre-to-home network
Infrastructure Investor Awards 2019

star icon grey

Best Legal Adviser 2019
Infrastructure Journal Investor Awards 2019

Star magenta

Europe Telecoms Deal of the Year
SFR FTTH
PFI Awards 2019

Work highlights

Selected Fibre Highlights

Altice fibre infrastructure: advising Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners on the acquisition of 49.9% of Altice fibre infrastructure in Portugal.
Altice’s “Fibre to Home” Business: advising OMERS, Allianz and AXA IM in relation to the €1.9bn roll-out of SFR FTTH’s fibre network in France.
Covage France: acting for sponsors in relation to the acquisition of Covage by SFR FTTH and subsequent capex financing of the roll-out of a network consisting of approximately 1.6m homes.
Hyperoptic: advising National Westminster Bank Plc and the other original lenders on the financing of KKR’s acquisition of Hyperoptic, the UK’s largest residential gigabit broadband provider.
Glass Fibre Network: advising Eurofiber Nederlands B.V. and Eurofiber Deutschland GmbH on the sale of Eurofiber’s glass fibre network in Germany to LWLcom.
Ufinet: advising the bidders for Ufinet, a fibre optic telecom services wholesale operator.
Fibre Optic Cables: advising DIF in connection with the financing of its investments in towers and fibre optic cables from subsidiaries of True Corporation.
South-East Asia Japan 2 Cable System: advising True Internet Corporation Co., Ltd. (TICC), on TICC’s investment in the South-East Asia Japan 2 Cable System consortium.

Selected Data Centre highlights

Vantage Data Centers, supported by Digital Colony Partners advising on:
The establishment of its European platform;
The acquisition of Etix Everywhere; and
The acquisition of Next Generation Data.
PSP and Macquarie Asia Infrastructure Fund: advising on the acquisition of data centre specialist AirTrunk.
German Data Centre: a consortium of investors in connection with a joint venture for the construction of a hyperscaler data centre in Germany.
Teraco: advising a consortium in connection with its bid for the largest data centre services provider in Africa.
AirTrunk Group: advising a multinational investment bank and financial services company on a AUD 1.31bn, a SGD 240.8m and a HKD 180.9m syndicated facilities for the group, which operates several cloud computing data centres in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Leading Asian fund: advising on the acquisition of a greenfield data centre in South Korea including the joint venture arrangements, hyperscale data centre contract and the design and construct contract.
Digital Colony: on the establishment of Scala Data Centers, a Latin American hyperscale data center platform headquartered in Brazil through the acquisition of assets from UOL Diveo.

Selected tower highlights

Arqiva Group Limited: advising Arqiva (owned by a consortium of investors, including Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, CPPIB, IFM Investors and Whitehelm Capital) on the sale of its telecom’s division (towers business) to Cellnex Telecom S.A. for £2bn.
Helios Towers plc: advising this leading independent telecom tower company with operations across five countries in sub- Saharan Africa, on its initial public offering on the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange.
Altice Portugal: a consortium led by funds advised by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure on the acquisition of a 75% stake in the Altice’s Portuguese towers business of MEO, a subsidiary of Altice N.V. and its subsequent sale to Cellnex.
Altice France: advising the sponsor on the financing of KKR’s acquisition of 49.9% interest in Altice’s French tower business.
National Grid Wireless: advising on the acquisition of Crown Castle UK and the subsequent disposal of National Grid Wireless to Arqiva.
Digital Colony: advising Digital Colony Partners, on the acquisition of Highline do Brasil II Infraestrutura de Telecomunicações, an independent towers/infrastructure solutions provider for the telecommunications industry in Brazil, from Pátria Investments.
CK Hutchison Holdings: advising on the separation of its tower assets, comprising 28,500 tower assets from its Hong Kong, Macau and 3 Group Europe operations, from its global telecoms operations, including implementing master services agreements and economic benefits arrangements for the use and maintenance of the tower assets.
Andean Tower Partners: advising ATP, a portfolio company of Digital Colony, on the acquisition of Torres Unidas, an independent towers/infrastructure solutions provider for the telecommunications industry in Chile, Colombia and Peru, from Berkshire Partners.

Selected space highlights

Galileo satellite project: advising the European Commission on the initial procurement of the Galileo satellite project.
A San Francisco based venture capital firm: advising the fund with respect to the establishment and first closing of a fund investing in space-linked start-ups with disruptive technologies, products and services.
Alcatel Space: advising on the purchase of 48.8% of Alcatel Space from Thales.
MEASAT satellites: advising the media arm of an Indonesian conglomerate on a transponder capacity lease agreement in respect of MEASAT satellites.
Optus Satellite: advising a major international satellite operator on the potential acquisition of the Optus Satellite business.
Inmarsat: advising on the US$1.5bn financing of Apax and Permira’s acquisition of Inmarsat.
PT Asia Cellular Satellite acquisition: advising Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications on the acquisition of a shareholding in a satellite operator company PT Asia Cellular Satellite.