Dechert Advises Orange in the Acquisition of Mobile Operator Airtel in Burkina Faso

Dechert LLP advised Orange, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators, together with its subsidiary Orange Côte d’Ivoire, in the closing of the acquisition of 100% of the mobile Airtel in Burkina Faso. Since the signature of an agreement with Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV (“Airtel”) in January 2016, Orange has satisfied the conditions necessary to complete this transaction.

Airtel is the 2nd largest mobile operator in Burkina Faso, with close to 4.6 million customers (on the basis of active customers within a 30-day period). On the mobile financial services market, Airtel is the uncontested leader and is already interoperable with Orange Money in neighboring countries allowing international transfers to be made. Airtel is also positioned as the country’s leading Internet provider thanks to its extensive 3.75G network, which has been rolled out in over 100 towns.

With 18 million inhabitants and a relatively high mobile penetration rate for the region (80% of the population), Burkina Faso becomes the 20th country in Africa and the Middle East to join the Orange group.

Dechert LLP acted as legal advisor to Orange. Partners Corporate/M&A François Hellot and Ermine Bolot led the Dechert team including:

• Associates Guillaume Briant, Alexia Delahousse, Baba Hady Thiam, Raphaël Sendowski and Thomas Bermudes on transactional aspects;
• Associates Sabrina Chekroun and Victoria Hamel on labor aspects;
• Partner Simon Briggs and associate Mike Jarrett on UK law aspects;
• Special counsel Renzo Marchini and associate, Pierre-Olivier Ally, as well as Marie de Jessey, Amira Mnafek, Madalina Suru and Raphaël Fauchart on transition services aspects.

Weil Gothsal & Manges LLP acted as regulatory advisors to Orange. Partner Yannick Piette, led the Weil Gothsal & Manges team including:

• Partner Frédéric Salat Baroux, counsel Marc Lordonnois and associate Maria Kabanova on regulatory aspects;
• Partner Romain Ferla and associate Alexandre Martin on competition aspects.

This transaction also involved local Burkina Faso advisors.

Read the press release in French (PDF): "Dechert conseille Orange dans le cadre de l’acquisition de l’opérateur mobile Airtel au Burkina Faso."

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