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Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Addleshaw Goddard are advising as the European arm of Australia's Macquarie Group buys British telecoms company KCOM in a £627 million cash-only deal.

The purchaser, Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 6 Fibre's (MEIF), is a sub-unit of Sydney-headquartered Macquarie, which is among the world's largest infrastructure asset managers. 

KCOM Group provides telecoms services in Hull, Yorkshire, the only region where rival BT does not have a presence. However, the company also offers certain of its services across the U.K. The deal is valued at £627 million, according to the cash-offer document.

Freshfields is advising MEIF on its acquisition, with a team led by corporate and M&A partners Stephen Hewes and Andrew Hutchings.

Addleshaws, meanwhile, is advising KCOM, with corporate partner Richard Lee and employment partner Jonathan Fletcher Rodgers leading.

It is the latest foray into the telecoms market for Freshfields, which last week acted for Airtel Africa on its £600 million London and Nigeria dual listing.

Last month, Goodwin Procter advised another of Macquarie's sub-units – Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) – on a €6 billion fundraising. It was the sixth time Goodwin's London team had advised MIRA on a deal.

In 2017, Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy and Herbert Smith Freehills advised as Macquarie bought the U.K.'s Green Investment Bank in a £2.3 billion deal.