Clifford Chance advises Vauban Infra Fibre on the acquisition of Towerlink France SAS

Vauban Infrastructure Partners and Vauban Infra Fibre (“VIF”), France’s largest independent digital infrastructure platform, have taken a strategic step towards the proposed acquisition of c. 100% of the shares of Towerlink France SAS (“Towerlink”) from Cellnex France (“Cellnex”).

Towerlink is the owner, operator and developer of urban edge datacentres, with a presence across multiple sites in France, which aims to accelerate the digital transformation of the territories, contributing to greater local development.

This proposed acquisition would further strengthen VIF’s leading position in the French market and diversify its base of digital infrastructure. VIF would also strengthen its partnership with Bouygues Telecom, Towerlink’s main client and one the leading telecommunications operators in France.

The contemplated transaction is subject to consultation with the employee representative bodies and closing would remain subject to customary regulatory and corporate clearances.

The Clifford Chance team was led by Gilles Lebreton and Daniel Zerbib, partners, and was composed of Camille Léger and Marion Tual, associates, on the corporate aspects; Quentin Hervé, Sophie Laporte and Arthur Jeay, associates, on the financing and project aspects; Fabien Jacquemard, senior counsel, and Santiago Ramirez, associate, on the hedging aspects; Alexandre Couturier, partner, Xavier Vaury, Antoinette Gru and Samuel Sellam, associates, on the real estate aspects; Gauthier Martin, partner, Clémence Graffan, counsel, Sara Helvig and Awa Dé, associates, on the public law aspects; Florence Aubonnet, partner, and Clémentine Marçais, associate, on the employment aspects; Rémy Lefebvre, counsel, on the tax aspects; Grégory Sroussi, counsel, and Nina Khalfi, associate, on the commercial contracts aspects; David Por, partner, Cyril Riffaud, counsel, and Naomi Martin, associate, on the intellectual property aspects; as well as Hendrik Coppoolse and Lara Niatti, associates, on the foreign investment control aspects.