Simpson Thacher advised Substantial Group Limited and its shareholders, including DigitalBridge, Advencap and Soho Square, in connection with the sale of Substantial Group to InfraVia, Liberty Global and Telefónica for £2 billion through their existing joint venture, nexfibre.
Founded in 2019, Substantial Group is the U.K.’s second largest alternative fibre provider, expected to have more than 3.4 million fibre premises and over 500,000 customers by completion.
Infravia, Liberty Global and Telefónica are committing £1 billion in new net funding for nexfibre to fund the transaction – made up of £850 million from Infravia and £150 million jointly from Liberty Global and Telefónica, with Virgin Media O2 committing traffic on 4.6 million overlapping and adjacent homes.
The Simpson Thacher team included Jiaying Zhang, Eleanor Milne, James Talbot, Nicholas Westbrook, Ciaran Cronin, Gemma Cullen, Kate Strachan, Isabella Sullivan, Matt Fowler, Luqman Meedin, Cie Jen Wong and Emma Kennedy (Corporate); Antonio Bavasso, Lina Kim and Sandeep Mahandru (Antitrust); and Sarah Lindley, Chris Dorman and Arianna Spina (Tax).