Austria: Schoenherr advises Vauban Infrastructure Partners, EDF Invest and MEAG on acquisition of the Austrian Tower portfolio from Cellnex

Schoenherr, alongside Hogan Lovells, advised a consortium comprising Vauban Infrastructure Partners (through Core Infrastructure Fund IV SCSp and Core Infrastructure Fund IV SCA SICAV RAIF), EDF Invest (the investment arm of EDF for non-listed dedicated assets) and MEAG (the asset manager of Munich Re and ERGO) on the acquisition of 100 % of Cellnex's Austria tower business for EUR 803m. The agreement was reached on 9 August 2024, with closing of the transaction being subject to customary regulatory approvals.

The Austrian TowerCo owns and operates approx. 4,600 rooftop and ground-based towers, providing mobile coverage to businesses and communities across the country. The company is the third largest TowerCo and largest independent TowerCo in Austria.

Vauban Infrastructure Partners, headquartered in Paris with subsidiaries in Luxembourg and NYC and a branch in Munich, is a leading infrastructure asset manager focused on European core infrastructure investments. https://Vauban-ip.com/

EDF Invest, the investment arm of EDF for non-listed dedicated assets, currently manages around EUR 10bln in equity. Its mission is to diversify EDF's portfolio of dedicated assets and extend its investment horizon by targeting three non-listed asset classes in France and abroad: infrastructure, real estate and funds. http://www.edfinvest.com/

MEAG is the asset manager of the Munich Re Group. MEAG currently manages assets to the value of around EUR 345bln, of which EUR 61bln is managed for non-Group investors.

The Schoenherr team advising the consortium on the transaction was led by Maximilian Lang (partner) and Christian Herbst (partner) and further consisted of Constantin Benes (partner), Volker Weiss (partner), Günther Leissler (partner), Teresa Waidmann (partner), Beatrix Schima (attorney at law), Christoph Jirak (attorney at law), Janos Böszörmenyi (attorney at law), Alexander Pabst (attorney at law), Philipp Staudigl (associate), Hanna Elisabeth Kirschner (associate), Markus Fasching (associate) and Stefan Dietrich (associate).

Barclays Bank Ireland PLC acted as the lead financial advisor, Crédit Agricole CIB as the financial advisor and Hogan Lovells (Paris/London) and Schoenherr served as legal counsels to the consortium.

Cellnex press release

EDF Invest press release