Wolf Theiss advises Cellnex Telecom S.A. on its acquisition of CK Hutchison’s Austrian telecommunications tower assets as part of a Europe-wide transaction

Wolf Theiss advised listed Cellnex Telecom S.A as buyer on all Austrian legal and regulatory aspects of the Europe-wide transaction, involving the UK, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Ireland and Austria. “We are delighted to advise Cellnex on all aspects of this first Austrian telecom infrastructure acquisition, working alongside Clifford Chance and a group of leading European law firms”, stated Horst Ebhardt, Partner, Wolf Theiss Corporate/M&A. 

The acquisition of the European telecommunications tower assets of CK Hutchison Holdings is a transformational deal –structured in six independent transactions – for Cellnex Telecom S.A. which creates a strategic alliance with Hutchison and entails the acquisition of 24,600 telecommunications sites, as well as an investment plan to deploy a further 5,250 new sites. The agreement consists of an initial investment of close to 10 billion euros, of which some 8.6 billion euros will be paid in cash and the remainder in newly issued shares in Cellnex Telecom. These shares will represent approximately 5% of its share capital, once the acquisition is carried out. Through this deal, Cellnex consolidates its presence in Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom and enters three new European markets (Austria, Denmark and Sweden), thereby increasing its geographic presence to 12 countries and attaining a total of approximately 103,000 telecommunications sites. 

Under the lead of Horst Ebhardt, Rahim Rastegar, Associate (Corporate and M&A), Christopher Juenger, Associate (Corporate and M&A), Daniel Schmidt, Associate  (Regulatory), Melanie Dimitrov,  Consultant (Tax), Erik Steger, Partner (Real Estate), Eva Stadler, Counsel (Tax), Georg Knafl, Associate (Regulatory), Guenter Bauer, Partner (Competition law), Harald Strahberger, Senior Associate (Regulatory), Hartwig Kienast, Partner (Corporate and M&A), Iris Riepan, Consultant (Real Estate, Regulatory), Johannes Sekanina, Associate (IP), Karl Binder, Partner (Real Estate), Katja Rehberger, Associate (Real Estate, Regulatory), Michael Meindl, Associate  (Real Estate, Regulatory), Martina Hiebl, Associate (Corporate and M&A), Matthias Unterrieder, Partner (Employment), Michael Kienzl, Senior Associate (Corporate and M&A), Niklas Schmidt, Partner (Tax), Paulina Pomorski, Senior Associate (IP), Roland Marko, Partner (IP),  Robert Wagner, Partner (Competition Law), Martin Gassler, Associate (Competition Law), Tanja Melber, Consultant (Real Estate, Regulatory) and Victor Leon Eggenberger, Associate (Real Estate, Regulatory) made up the Wolf Theiss Team.

Cellnex Telecom S.A. is the main infrastructure operator for wireless telecommunication in Europe. Cellnex has made a firm commitment to developing its network, which currently comprises more than 60,000 sites and positions the company to develop next generation networks. It provides services in Italy, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Ireland, Portugal and Spain as a result of the investments undertaken to boost its transformation and internationalisation drive.

CK Hutchison is among the largest companies listed on the main board of The Hong Kong Stock Exchange. CK Hutchison has five core businesses – ports and related services, retail, infrastructure, energy and telecommunications.