Orrick Advises Shareholders in Sale of Slovakian Telecoms Provider Benestra
Orrick has advised a consortium of international private equity firms, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Columbia Capital, HarbourVest Partners, Innova Capital, MC Partners and Oak Investment Partners, in the sale of Slovakian telecommunications provider Benestra to leading private equity house Sandberg Capital. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals.
Lead partner Shawn Atkinson has been advising members of the consortium of investors since they first acquired the assets of telecommunications service provider GTS Central Europe in 2007. Following over six years of investing in GTS’s growth and building the company into one of the leading telecoms providers in Central Europe, Mr. Atkinson advised the consortium of investors on the sale of GTS to Deutsche Telekom for €546 million in 2014. That sale excluded GTS Slovakia, which was retained by the investors and renamed Benestra. The sale of Benestra is the culmination of nine years of deal activity relating to GTS and its assets.
Benestra’s service portfolio includes voice and data communication solutions, internet connectivity solutions, data centers, and hosting services on both physical and virtual cloud platforms.
The London-based Orrick team advising the investors was led by Shawn Atkinson and included Emma Raleigh, Katrina Murphy, Amy Roper, Alice Taylor and David Griffiths, with valuable assistance from Rosalind Seeley and Jackie Harper.