The acquisition follows the announcement of the acquisition of Lifecell, Ukraine's third largest mobile operator, by a consortium led by NJJ Holding and including US private equity firm Horizon Capital, headed by Lenna Koszarny, and the target group's CEO Mykhaylo Shelemba. The consortium will merge Datagroup-Volia with Lifecell to create a converged telecom platform. This landmark transaction is the first major investment by a new market entrant and a major strategic investor since the Russian invasion of February 2022. These investments will contribute to the growth and modernization of Ukraine's telecommunications infrastructure.
The combined platform will provide mobile connectivity to almost 10 million Ukrainians, while its fixed network will cover more than 4 million residences across the country. Future developments will enable the platform to offer a triple-play service, combining mobile, fixed connectivity and pay TV, improving service quality, pricing and integration of European standards.
DWF's team in France that advised NJJ Holding was composed of Pascale Gallien (Partner), Vincent Maufront (Of Counsel) and François Galéa (Associate) for corporate aspects.
DWF's Paris team was assisted by Jemil Visram, Director from DWF's UK team for English law aspects.
DWF was lead counsel for the buy-side aspects of the Datagroup-Volia acquisition, and coordinated the involvement of the law firms Kinstellar (Olena Kuchynska, Yulia Eismont and Ihor Kitela) for Ukraine, and Georgiades & Pelides LLC (Irene Argyrides) for Cyprus.
