Bredin Prat advises NJJ Holding in connection with the financing of the acquisition of Lifecell and Datagroup-Volia

Bredin Prat is assisting NJJ Holding, one of the investment vehicles of the French businessman, Xavier Niel, in connection with the financing of the acquisition of Lifecell, the third-largest mobile operator in Ukraine, and of Datagroup-Volia, a fixed telecom and pay-TV provider in Ukraine, by a consortium of investors including NJJ Holding and private equity firm Horizon Capital, with a view to creating, after the merger of Lifecell and Datagroup-Volia, a converged telcom platform.

The transaction involves a bridging loan from a syndicate of banks and will ultimately be partly financed by the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) and IFC (International Finance Corporation) through a US$435 million financing package.

The new platform is expected to serve around 10 million mobile users and more than 4 million people connected via fixed-access network.

The Bredin Prat team advising NJJ Holding is as follows:

• Financing: Karine Sultan (Partner), Ilona Serfaty and Jessim Djama
• Tax law: Julien Gayral (Partner) and Caroline Jacquot