Linklaters has advised OXG Glasfaser GMBH and its shareholders, Vodafone and Altice, on the financing which will fund the roll-out of an optical fibre-to-home network to seven million homes in Germany over a six-year period.

Total debt facilities of up to €4.6bn have been arranged with a group of leading financial institutions to support the network deployment.

Up to €7bn is expected to be invested during the expansion phase, which will be partly financed by the debt package, which is non-recourse to Vodafone and Altice.

The creation of the JV, which a wider Linklaters team advised on late last year, received European Commission approval last month.

The Linklaters cross-practice and multijurisdictional team included Energy & Infrastructure partner Ross Schloeffel and associates Jamie McPhie and Trisha Dasgupta (all London), Banking partner Przemyslaw Lipin and associates Lasse Petersen and Martin Reschke, alongside Corporate partner Andreas Müller and associate Henrik Kilian (all Frankfurt).

Ross Schloeffel, Energy & Infrastructure partner, comments:

“Completion of this significant financing demonstrates the remarkable resilience of the infrastructure debt market in the face of a challenging global economy. We are very pleased to have supported the Sponsors to deliver a comprehensive financing package which will accelerate the future of the fibre-to-home network in Germany.”

Linklaters’ global Energy & Infrastructure team is known for its strength in advising on complex, large scale transactions. This deal demonstrates Linklaters’ cross-practice and multijurisdictional capability and expertise in the fibre optics market.