Ashurst advised MEAG and Ärzteversorgung Westfalen-Lippe (ÄVWL) on the establishment of the joint venture Open German Fiber with Primevest Capital Partners (Primevest CP) as an additional partner. The joint venture will build passive fiber optic network infrastructure (FTTH – fiber to the home) and lease it to an operator. Open German Fiber was already able to secure areas in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia when it was founded.
MEAG will invest on behalf of Munich Re group and MEAG European Infrastructure One, MEAG's infrastructure fund for institutional investors. The intended structure of the joint venture is that MEAG and ÄVWL will each hold 40% and Primevest CP 20%.
Areas in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia have been secured as first regions where at least 150,000 households will have access to high-speed Internet. YplaY will be responsible for marketing the fiber-optic network to customers in Hesse. Construction work will begin this year.
The transaction is subject to approval by the relevant merger control authorities and is expected to be completed in the course of 2022.
The Ashurst team was led by partner Dr Benedikt von Schorlemer. He was assisted by counsel Martina Rothe, senior associates Jan Ischreyt and Quynh Anh Le, associates Friederike Preyer and Daniel Hau as well as transaction counsel Sandra Schmidt (all Corporate, Frankfurt). Advice on tax aspects was provided by partner Dr Anders Kraft with counsel Dr Susanne Knoch and associates Steffen Bellmann and Andreas Hofmann (all Frankfurt). On regulatory issues, partner Dr Detmar Loff advised with senior associate Ilka Breuer and associate Dr Cornelius Hille (all Frankfurt). Dr Michael Holzhäuser (Frankfurt) and counsel Dr Maria Held (Munich) provided antitrust advice. Other advisors were partner Derk Opitz (Project Finance), counsel Holger Mlynek (Infrastructure), Gabrielle Metherall (Global Loans), senior associates Dr Simon Groneberg (Infrastructure), Dr Stefan Schlimm (Real Estate, all Frankfurt) and partner Dr Martin Eimer (Dispute Resolution, Munich). From Luxembourg, partner Georges Simon, counsel Chiara Bardini, Alexia André (all Tax) and senior associate Geoffrey Delamarre (Corporate) advised. In London, partner Neil Cuninghame as well as associates Nadja Waksman and Rubaina Sehgal (all Antitrust) were involved.
