CMS advises Viatel on the sale of its infrastructure business to Zayo Group

CMS has advised major telecoms operator Viatel on its agreement to sell its non-Irish fibre and optical wavelengths business to Zayo Group, a global provider of bandwidth infrastructure and network-neutral colocation and connectivity services. The enterprise value of the transaction was $102 million.

Viatel’s customer base includes enterprise, wholesale and carrier customers. The sold network is an 8,400 kilometre backbone fibre network across eight countries, with metro networks in 12 cities and 150 data centres. In addition, two wholly-owned subsea cable systems provide connectivity on two of Europe’s busiest routes: London to Amsterdam and London to Paris.

The CMS team advising Viatel was led by partner Stuart Blythe, with assistance from senior associate Nicholas Kuria, tax partner Sam Dames and IP senior associate, Tom Reid.

Commenting on the transaction, Stuart Blythe, said: “We are delighted to have advised Viatel on this strategically important transaction in the telecoms infrastructure space. This transaction cements CMS’ position as a leading firm in the global telecoms market, combining in-depth sector knowledge with unique expertise in network transactions.”