With the help of Noerr, Deutsche Telekom AG has taken over GTS Central Europe Group. The GTS Group is one of the leading providers of telecommunication services in Central and Eastern Europe and had turnover in the last financial year of EUR 347 million. The seller is a consortium of international finance investors, the purchase price is approximately EUR 546 million.
Noerr coordinated the cross-border transaction as lead counsel under the leadership of the Düsseldorf M&A expert and partner Dr. Jens Liese and the Berlin telecommunication expert and partner Dr. Tobias Frevert for Telekom. The Noerr offices in the GTS markets of Poland, Rumania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary supported the transaction. In addition, the Noerr team coordinated law firms from a further five jurisdictions. Since the Slovak company of the GTS group was not acquired, the supply and service business in the telecommunications area between the acquired group and the non-acquired parts of the group had to be provided for.
GTS maintains in its markets an independent broadband network, offers internet services and operates computer centres. More than 38,000 companies and institutions are customers of the group. The finance investors Columbia Capital, HarbourVest Partners, Innova Capital and M/C Partners are among the former shareholders.
The relevant authorities must still approve the takeover:
Advisor Deutsche Telekom AG: Noerr LLP
Partner: Dr. Jens Liese (leading M&A, Düsseldorf), Dr. Tobias Frevert (leading telecommunications, Berlin), Dr. Thomas Schulz (corporate, Munich), Dr. Kathrin Westermann, Dr. Michael Bergmann (both cartel law and telecommunications, Berlin), Dr. Andreas Butz (employment, Düsseldorf), Dr. Thomas Thalhofer (IP, Munich), David Zafra Carollo (real estate, Düsseldorf)
Associates: Dr. Andrea Neyses (corporate, Frankfurt/Main), Dr. Sebastian Schürer, Bodo Dehne (both corporate, Düsseldorf), Ariane Neubauer (corporate, Berlin); Dr. Benjamin Bajon (telecommunications, Berlin), Dr. Patrick Mückl (employment, Düsseldorf), Pascal Schumacher (cartel and telecommunications, Berlin), Katharina Pehle (IP, Munich), Jan Kriszeleit (finance, Frankfurt/Main)
English law: Travers Smith: Philip Sanderson, Adam Orr
Poland: Noerr (Arkadiusz Ruminski, corporate, coordination; Agnieszka Witaszek, Tomasz Krzywicki, both corporate and telecommunications)
Rumania: Noerr (Mihai Macelaru, corporate, coordination; Cristina Stamboli, Irina Stanica, both corporate and telecommunications)
Slovakia: Noerr (JUDr Pavol Rak, PhD, corporate, coordination; Martin Tupek, Lukás Makara; both corporate and telecommunications)
The Czech Republic: Noerr (Barbara Kusak, corporate, coordination; JUDr. Petr Hrncir, JUDr. Milos Temel, JUDr. Halka Pavlíková, JUDr. Pavel Siroký; all corporate and telecommunications)
Hungary: Noerr (Dr. Zoltán Nádasdy, corporate, coordination; Dr. Zoltán Tenk, Martón Osztheimer; both corporate and telecommunications)
The Netherlands: NautaDutilh: Joost den Engelsman (corporate, coordination)
Luxembourg: NautaDutilh: Greet Wilkenhuysen, Arnaud Fostier (both corporate, coordination)
Cyprus: Dr. K. Chrysostomides & Co LLC: Anna Rossides (corporate, coordination)
The Ukraine: Nobles: Volodymyr Yakubovskyy (corporate, coordination)