Advising American Tower on its USD9.4 billion acquisition of Telxius Towers from Telefónica

The deal comprises approximately 31,000 existing communications sites in Germany, Spain, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina and the total consideration for the transaction is approximately EUR7.7 billion (USD 9.4 billion at current foreign exchange rates).

The deal will establish American Tower as one of the largest independent communications infrastructure providers in Europe. The transaction is expected to close in multiple tranches beginning in the second quarter of 2021, subject to government and regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

Tom Levine, co-head of the global TMT practice at A&O comments: “There is currently a great deal of activity in digital infrastructure, and complex multi-country transactions in a field we know well are our happy place. It’s a real pleasure to have helped American Tower scale up significantly in Europe.”

The A&O team was led by Madrid Corporate partner Fernando Torrente, with TMT co-head Tom Levine and Hamburg Real Estate partner Christian Hilmes. In Spain the team included Corporate counsel Teresa Mendez, senior associate Bosco De Checa and associate Santiago Gil-Gruart. Corporate counsel Ruediger Klueber and associate Jan-Benedikt Fischer and Real Estate senior associate Daniel Bolm advised in Germany.

Along with Amy Alter and Steven Haymore of American Tower’s in-house legal team, A&O worked with Pinheiro Neto in Brazil, DLA Piper in Chile and Peru, and Marval in Argentina.