CMS has advised NJJ, the telecom investment holding company owned by Xavier Niel, and Horizon Capital on USD 435m financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for the acquisition of lifecell, Ukraine’s third largest and fastest growing mobile operator, and Datagroup-Volia, the country’s leading fixed telecom and pay TV provider.
The historic acquisition, which CMS also advised on, was announced in September 2024, and will merge Datagroup-Volia and lifecell to create a converged telecom platform that will support the continued growth, modernisation, and resilience of Ukraine's telecommunications sector.
The financing signing ceremony was held in Paris on 9 October in the presence of more than 50 participants, including the European Commission, the Finance Minister of France and the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
It is not only unprecedented investment and financing under the current circumstances, but also the largest in the last decade.
Kateryna Chechulina, finance counsel at CMS, said: “This financing represents another major milestone in this landmark deal for Ukraine. A multidisciplinary and multijurisdictional CMS team worked together to develop a sophisticated financing structure, made necessary by the ongoing war in the country. This major investment and financing from EBRD and IFC, two of the largest development financial institutions in the world, are crucial for Ukraine’s telecommunications infrastructure, which is absolutely vital for Ukraine and its people amid the war, and sends yet another clear signal of the country’s economic resilience.”
Graham Conlon, corporate partner at CMS who led the acquisition deal, added: “The acquisition itself was a historic moment for Ukraine and we are delighted also to have advised on the related financing—itself a key moment for Ukraine.”
The financing workstream of the deal was led by Kateryna Chechulina, English and Ukrainian law qualified counsel at CMS Kyiv, in cooperation with the wider CMS deal team consisting of Jenny Allan (Finance partner, Edinburgh), Ihor Olekhov (Head of Banking and Finance, CMS Kyiv), Iryna Barlit (associate, Finance), Graham Conlon (partner), Louise Çakar (counsel), Vitalii Mainarovych (senior associate), Inna Koval (senior associate), Ihor Pavliukov (associate), and Oliver Colston-Weeks (associate) and with support from Tetyana Dovgan (partner) and Mariana Saienko (senior associate) (M&A & Corporate, CMS Kyiv).