The Warsaw office of Linklaters has advised Orange Polska on its entrance into a joint venture with Dutch pension investment firm APG.
Orange Polska is a Warsaw-based provider of telecommunications services. The company is controlled by Orange S.A., a French telecommunication company that serves around 266 million customers worldwide and employs around 150,000 people globally.
Both Orange and APG own 50% of the stake in the new "FiberCo" joint venture, which is valued at EUR 605 million. According to Orange, “this joint venture aims to support the rollout of fiber in Poland, in areas where access to very high-speed broadband infrastructure is limited or inexistent.” FiberCo is expected to deploy additional 1.7 million fiber-to-the-home plugs for high-speed Internet throughout Poland.
According to Orange, as part of the transaction, Orange Polska will receive EUR 303 million from APG, with 65% transferred on closing and the rest transferred between 2022 and 2026 as the deployment plan advances.
The Linklaters team included Partner Marcin Schulz, among others. The firm did not reply to an inquiry about the deal.
Editor's note: After this article was published, Rymarz Zdort informed CEE Legal Matters that it advised APG on the deal. According to the firm, “the joint venture will operate under the name Swiatlowod Inwestycje.” The firm's team included Partners Marcin Chylinski, Iwona Her, Monika Kierepa, Robert Krasnodebski, Marek Maciag, and Filip Uzieblo, Counsels Agnieszka Koniewicz and Marek Kanczew, Senior Associates Antonina Falandysz-Ziecik and Marcin Plonka, and Associates Marta Rykalovska and Kacper Skowron.
