The digital infrastructure sector continues to attract record levels of investment with cutting-edge technologies driving demand and innovation and, with that, ever-increasing regulatory scrutiny.
A combination of our leading tech, M&A, financing, real estate, construction, infrastructure and energy, commercial contracting, antitrust and digital regulation practices allow us to provide full-service advice across the sector, including in relation to data centres, towers, cloud solutions, edge computing, fibre and 5G network deployment, expansion and sharing, small cells and WIFI solutions and active/passive RAN roll-outs.
We regularly advise on:
M&A and joint ventures across the digital infrastructure sector
Strategic third party investment and operational partnerships
Financing of digital infrastructure throughout the lifecycle, from greenfield sites through construction phases to fully developed assets
Release of capital from physical infrastructure sites through “TowerCo”, “NetCo” and “PropCo” and Sale & Leaseback-style transactions
Network sharing arrangements
Leasing arrangements for data centres (hyperscaler and retail) and towers
Key commercial contracting arrangements, including customer contracts, connectivity, power purchase, long-term and transitional servicing and facility management
Construction of digital infrastructure assets, including all aspects of real estate acquisition, planning and permitting, construction and power sourcing
European-wide digital regulation impacting the digital infrastructure sector
Key Experience
Vodafone
on various digital infrastructure transactions, partnerships and commercial contracts, including:
various M&A transactions including the proposed merger of 3UK and Vodafone UK, the acquisition of Liberty Global’s business in Germany and CEE, the sale of Vodafone Hungary, the proposed disposal of Vodafone Spain, the proposed acquisition of Nowo in Portugal and the merger of Vodafone India with Idea Cellular
its UK network-sharing arrangements with O2 to share 5G active equipment, such as radio antennas, on joint network sites across the UK
its strategic partnership with CityFibre, leading to Vodafone becoming Britain’s largest full fibre broadband provider
the commercialisation of Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure, the 50:50 owned joint venture company with Telefonica which owns and manages Vodafone UK and TEF UK’s passive tower infrastructure
the merger of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers to create a pan-Indian tower company
Equinix
on various transactions across Europe and Africa and the related wholesale and retail leasing models, managed services, transitional services, brand licensing and connectivity arrangements, including:
its expansion into Africa through the acquisition of MainOne
the £2.35bn takeover of Telecity Group
the sale of eight data centres across Europe to Digital Realty
the acquisition of Zenium’s data centre business in Istanbul
the purchase from IO of a UK operating data centre business
the acquisition of a data centre in Paris
various real estate acquisitions
American Tower Corporation
one of the largest global REITs, on its acquisition of Eaton Towers
A $2bn+ data centre fund
in relation to acquisitions and potential acquisitions in various countries, including Switzerland, the Nordics, Germany and France
L&G Capital
on its investment in the Kao Data Centre campus
UK Infrastructure Bank
as a cornerstone lender to CityFibre’s £4.9bn financing programme to support the roll out of full fibre broadband to 8 million UK homes
Newlight Partners
on the sale of its controlling interest in Hyperoptic, a leader in ‘full’ fibre optic technology, to funds managed by KKR
The Infrastructure and Ports Authority
in connection with the establishment of the UK Government’s Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund, which aimed to mobilise over £1 billion of investment in full fibre broadband
