Sunrise Communications Group AG to acquire UPC Switzerland GmbH for CHF 6.3bn

On 27 February 2019 Sunrise Communications Group AG announced that is has signed a binding agreement to indirectly acquire UPC Switzerland GmbH for an enterprise value of CHF 6.3 billion.

In the context of the transaction, Sunrise will undertake a rights issue in order to raise approximately CHF 4.1 billion to fund the cash payment and to repay certain existing Sunrise debt. Niederer Kraft Frey advised Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch, UBS AG and Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc in connection with their volume underwriting in the amount of approximately CHF 4.1 billion. The transaction is subject to receipt of regulatory clearance and approval of the rights issue by an extraordinary general meeting of Sunrise. Closing is expected to occur in the second half of 2019.

UPC is Switzerland’s leading cable operator with access to 2.3 million homes, serving 1.2 million customers and 2.3 million service subscribers. The combination of Sunrise and UPC will form a fully converged Swiss nationwide challenger across all elements of the 4P bundle, including wholesale fibre, cable and mobile and will further strengthen Sunrise’s position as a strong player in mobile, TV, fixed broadband and fixed voice customers.

The NKF team was led by Capital Markets partner Philippe Weber, working with counsel Christina Del Vecchio (Capital Markets) and other members of the NKF Transactions Team.