Shearman, White & Case and Simpson Thacher handle CEE telecoms deals

A trio of US firms have taken lead roles on a series of deals in Central and Eastern Europe which will give buyout house Mid Europa Partners a controlling stake in Hungarian telecoms company Invitel.

Shearman & Sterling, White & Case and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett were instructed on the deals, which involved both debt and equity acquisitions and have been valued by Mergermarket at a total of £678m.

Shearman advised Mid Europa on the deals, which saw the buyout house acquire Danish telecommunications provider TDC's 64.6% stake in Invitel and put in cash to buy back existing debt. Separately, Hungarian Telecom Finance International, a company owned by Mid Europa, has offered to buy the outstanding ‚Ǩ125m (£115m) floating rate senior pay in kind notes due in 2013.

Shearman fielded a team that was co-led by London capital markets partner Jacques McChesney and M&A partner George Karafotias. Iain Goalen provided finance advice, with Matthew Readings looking after competition matters.

Invitel turned to White & Case, with London banking and capital markets partner Rob Mathews (pictured) and Budapest M&A partners Rob Irving and Edward Keller advising.

Invitel has been a White & Case client since 2002 and is the second-largest fixed line telecommunications and broadband internet service provider in Hungary.

Simpson Thacher advised TDC with London corporate partner Michael Wolfson heading the team.

White & Case partner Mathews commented: "We are hoping that the CEE will be a very active area in terms of M&A and finance work over the next 12 months as economies improve."