Herbert Smith Freehills advises Stonepeak on its transaction with Cellnex Telecom

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Stonepeak, a leading alternative investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets, on its transaction with Cellnex Telecom to acquire a 49% interest in Cellnex Sweden and Cellnex Denmark (Cellnex Nordics) for €730 million. Cellnex Nordics provides mobile network operators with colocation services for their wireless networking equipment through a network of over 4,500 sites in Sweden and Denmark. The Cellnex Nordics business is positioned well for further expansion as it has options to build and operate approximately 2,500 further sites in the region.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by partner and Global Co-head of Infrastructure, Gavin Williams, and partner, Emma Stones, assisted by senior associates Al Goodison, Sean McDermott and Dominic Rowe, and associates, Freddy Bouttell and Leshandra Mandlate. The team also included tax partner, Casey Dalton, and senior associate, Graham Crocker, and regulatory partner, Veronica Roberts, and senior associates, Sean Giles and Alexander Rickets. Partner Nicolás Martín, senior associate, Soledad Bialet, associate Alejandro Hillage and consultant, Daniel Alaminos, from the firm's Madrid office advised on matters of Spanish law. Setterwalls and Plesner advised on Swedish and Danish aspects, respectively.

Partner Gavin Williams, commented:

"We're delighted to have advised Stonepeak on this milestone investment in European digital infrastructure."

Herbert Smith Freehills has recently advised on several of the most high-profile digital infrastructure investments, including:

• AustralianSuper on its €1.5 billion investment in Vantage Data Centers, one of the fastest-growing hyperscale data centre platforms in the region
• Antin Infrastructure Partners on the sale of Lyntia Networks – the main neutral operator of optical fibre, and one of the largest suppliers of dark fibre in Spain – to a joint venture between AXA and Swiss Life, in a deal valued at more than €2 billion
• Cellnex on the sale of ~1,226 telecommunications sites in France to Phoenix Tower International, a Blackstone portfolio company