Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are advising on Cable & Wireless Communications' (CWC) proposed acquisition of Latin American telecoms provider Columbus International for $1.85bn (£1.15bn).

Slaughters is advising CWC on the acquisition, fielding a team led by corporate partners Andrew Jolly, Paul Dickson and Nigel Boardman. Financing partner Ed Fife and competition partner Jordan Ellison are also advising the communications giant alongside employment partners Sandeep Maudgil and Roland Doughty.

The firm is working as part of a joint advisory team with Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, one of its regular US referral firms.

A Freshfields team, led by corporate partner Piers Prichard Jones, is advising Columbus on the UK aspects of the deal, supported by Mills & Reeve corporate partners Tom Pickthorn and Stephen Hamilton .

In the US, Columbus turned to Cox & Palmer to act on the transactional aspects of the deal, led by corporate counsel Wayne Myles, while Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler corporate partner Herman Raspe acted as counsel on US securities matters. Bingham McCutchen put forward a team headed by technology partner Ulises Pin and antitrust partner Hill Wellford to advise on the regulatory aspects of the deal. 

The terms of the purchase will see CWC pay $707.5m in cash and the issue of shares in CWC to certain Columbus shareholders as well as taking on $1.2bn (£750m) net debt from the Barbados based company.  

Privately owned Columbus operates across 42 countries with residential customers in the Caribbean and Latin America.

The deal is expected to be completed in the new year, subject to CWC shareholder approval.