Linklaters has advised leading independent financial investment firm InfraVia Capital Partners on its joint venture with Liberty Global and Telefónica to build a new fibre network in the UK covering up to 7 million homes, representing approximately £4.5 billion of investment, supported by £3.3 billion of fully underwritten financing commitments and up to £1.4 billion in equity commitments.

Virgin Media O2 will be the anchor wholesale client of the joint venture in addition to providing a range of technical services. It will include a wholesale fibre-to-the-home broadband network of up to 7 million premises, while having exclusive access to VMO2’s construction expertise. The partnership will initially roll out fibre to 5 million homes not currently served by Virgin Media O2’s network by 2026, with the opportunity to expand to an additional 2 million homes.

Liberty Global and Telefónica will jointly hold a 50% stake in the joint venture with InfraVia owning the remaining 50%. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval and is expected to close in Q4 2022.

The cross-practice team was led by M&A partner Daniel Law, supported by partners Florent Mazeron and Hugo Stolkin, counsel Julien Bourmaud-Danto and associates Jessica Bremner and Tash Barrington. The team also included TMT partner Julian Cunningham-Day and associate Maxine Vercoe; Energy & Infrastructure partner Ross Schloeffel and associate Parul Sharma; tax partner Chris Smale and associate Alexei Franks; and antitrust and FDI partners Pierre Zelenko and Nicole Kar and counsels Verity Egerton-Doyle and Matthieu Blayney.