Merger between Orange and Más Móvil: the advisors

The European Commission has authorized (with commitments) the creation of an 18.6 billion euro joint venture by Orange and Más Móvil. This move marks one of the most significant operations in the electronic communications sector in recent years. From a competition law perspective, the operation held great relevance due to the consolidation process underway in the sector and the potential consequences the European Commission’s stance could have on future corporate operations in this domain.

The Competition Law department of Martínez-Echevarría, led by partner Alfonso Ois (pictured left), played a crucial role in the operation by advising Vodafone Spain throughout a procedure that spanned over 18 months. The process involved continuous interaction with the European Commission, the CNMC, and other European institutions.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is advising MásMóvil Ibercom, S.A.U. in these negotiations with Orange, as it did when the consortium formed by Cinven, KKR and Providence in its voluntary public offer to acquire all the shares of MásMóvil Ibercom, for 3,000 million euros.

In this regard, a “Global Transactions Corporate” team has been set up, composed of partner Armando Albarrán (pictured second from the left) with the support of associates Mario Pacini, Javier Sánchez-Valiente and Íñigo Ríos.

Perez-Llorca also advises on the operation as the law firm in charge of leading competition law matters.

Its team of professionals, led by Juan Jiménez-Laiglesia (pictured second from the right) , the partner in charge of these matters, will be in charge of managing these matters and responding to the demands of the competition authorities.

On the Jones Day side, the team advising Orange is led by Luis Riesgo (pictured right), managing partner of the Latin America and Miami region and supervisor of the Sao Paulo office in Brazil.