Herbert Smith Freehills advises UAE tech company e& enterprise on joint venture with Bespin Global to capitalise on demand for cloud services

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised e& enterprise, part of e& (formerly known as Etisalat Group, a UAE-based global technology and investment group), on its joint venture with Bespin Global.

Bespin Global is a leading global public cloud managed services provider. The joint venture, which responds to huge regional demand for cloud-based services, will create a major player in this field in the Middle East, Turkey, Africa and Pakistan.

By combining e& enterprise's strong local market presence and Bespin Global's best-in-class skills in the fields of cloud operations, the joint venture, to operate as Bespin Global MEA, will allow to extend products and services to governments and large enterprises in order to meet their needs to accelerate digital transformation in the region.

The joint venture will be 65 percent owned by e& enterprise and 35 percent owned by Bespin Global. The total investment and future commitments are expected to be over US$100 million. Both e& enterprise and Bespin Global will contribute their existing public cloud businesses from the region to the joint venture. At the same time e& will access the South Korean market, and potentially unlock further collaboration with existing shareholders of Bespin Global by making a primary investment of $60 million in Bespin Global. In addition, e& enterprise has the option to invest another $60 million in Bespin Global within a period of 18 months from completion of the transaction.

Herbert Smith Freehills team, led by partners Chris Walters and Aaron White, and senior associate Anna Szyndler, advised on all aspects of the transaction, including legal due diligence, merger control, transaction structuring and negotiating the investment documents.