International law firm Clifford Chance has advised 3i Infrastructure plc, a long-term investor in infrastructure businesses and assets, on the acquisition of a 60 percent share in the Berlin/Brandenburg-based fibre-optic and telecommunications provider DNS:NET.
3i Infrastructure has agreed to invest an amount of circa EUR 182 million. The transaction has yet to be approved by the competent authorities.
The sellers of shares are financial investor DBAG, who will fully divest their 37.5 percent stake, as well as Alexander Lucke, founder and CEO of DNS:NET, who will sell a part of his shares and contribute the remaining part into a joint holding company with 3i Infrastructure.
DNS:NET was founded in 1998 in order to set up a fibre infrastructure in Berlin and the surrounding Brandenburg state. DBAG had invested in the group since 2013.
The international Clifford Chance team advising 3i Infrastructure on the transaction comprised partners Markus Stephanblome and Frederik Mühl as well as senior associate Gerd Hegele, associate Natalie Hemberger and transaction lawyer Anna Chiettini (all Corporate M&A, Frankfurt); partner Michael Bates, Lucinda Hamilton, Director of Infrastructure Financing, (both Finance, London) and partner Christof Häfner, counsel Andreas Ruthemeyer and associate Yan Ma (all Finance, Frankfurt); partner Mathias Elspaß and associate Felix Feldmann (both Regulatory, Düsseldorf) as well as partner Marc Besen, counsel Dimitri Slobodenjuk and senior associates Arne Gayk and Anne Filzmoser (all Antitrust, Düsseldorf).
The due diligence team comprised partners David Pasewaldt (Compliance, Frankfurt), Ines Keitel (Employment/Data Privacy, Frankfurt), Reinhard Scheer-Hennings (Real Estate, Düsseldorf) and Claudia Milbradt (IP, Düsseldorf), counsels Susanne Werry (Data Privacy), Steffen Amelung (Real Estate/Procurement, both Frankfurt) and Anne Britta Haas (Corporate, Munich); senior associates Mario Maier (Employment, Munich), Nicolas Hohn-Hein (IP, Düsseldorf), Alexander Shemyakin (Real Estate, Düsseldorf); associates Katrin Wick (Compliance, Frankfurt), Marcus Drescher (Düsseldorf), Michael Kümmel, Iliana Diedrich (both Frankfurt, all Corporate), Alicia Busch (Employment, Frankfurt), Timo Heppner (Real Estate/Procurement, Frankfurt), David Rahmel (Real Estate, Düsseldorf) as well as transaction lawyer Sessi Govoei (Finance, Düsseldorf).
