Bird & Bird advises Gamma on majority acquisition of HFO
Contacts
Bird & Bird LLP has advised the British company Gamma Communications plc on the acquisition of 80% of the shares in HFO Holding AG, one of the leading SIP trunk providers in Germany, which also includes the distributor Epsilon. There is a purchase option for the remaining 20% over the next three years.
Gamma is a leading provider of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) in the UK, Spain and the Netherlands, and has identified Germany as an important target market as part of its expansion strategy. According to the company, the total German market has around 36 million PBX lines, but only around 6% cloud connection. The market for cloud telephony is therefore expected to grow steadily in the coming years.
Gamma's goal is to develop and sell a market leading cloud PBX solution through the channel to accelerate HFO's growth in the emerging cloud PBX market in Germany. HFO also offers B2B mobile services through its subsidiary Epsilon Telecom, with more than 100,000 lines sold annually. This also provides Gamma with the opportunity to sell a mobile cloud PBX product through this channel.
Bird & Bird also recently advised Gamma on public offer for VOZTELECOM OIGAA360, S.A ("VozTelecom")
in Spain. VozTelecom is one of the leading Cloud PBX providers in Spain and is the largest Cloud PBX business aside from the major fixed line and mobile network operators.
The following Bird & Bird lawyers advised Gamma Communications plc on this complex step acquisition:
Partner Stefan Münch, Partner Stephan Kübler, LL.M., Counsel Michael Gassner and Associates Marcel Nurk, Marijana Simonova (all Corporate/M&A, Munich), Partner Dr. Ralph Panzer, Associates Julia Gottinger and Laura Schildberg (all Employment Law, München) Partner Dr. Henriette Picot, Partner Dr. Alexander Duisberg, Associate Goekhan Kosak (all Tech & Comms, Munich), Senior Counsel Valerian Jenny (Foreign Trade Law, Frankfurt), Partner Dr. Markus Körner, and Associate Maximilian Hillenkamp (IP, München), Partner Neil Blundell, Legal Director Nick Heap (Corporate Finance) all London, Associate Pauline Toet (Corporate, Candidate Notary, The Hague).