In its latest major telecommunications deal, S&C advised e& in its acquisition of a 9.8 percent stake in Vodafone Group for $4.4 billion, becoming Vodafone’s largest shareholder. e& (formerly known as Emirates Telecommunications Group) was established more than four decades ago in the UAE as the country’s first telecommunications service provider and now provides services in 16 countries across the Middle East, Asia and Africa. e& is controlled by the Abu-Dhabi sovereign investment authority, the Emirates Investment Authority.

The London-based S&C team that advised e& included John Horsfield-Bradbury, Richard Pollack, Abigail M. Yevnin, Sam Saunders and Umberto Hassan. Vanessa Blackmore, Craig Jones, Ben Perry and Prateek Andharia advised on English law. Juan Rodriguez and Marielena Doeding advised on regulatory matters. Andrew Thomson advised on tax matters.

In other deals in the telecommunications sector, S&C has advised:

• AT&T in its spin-off/merger of WarnerMedia into Discovery;
• China Mobile in its $7.5 billion IPO on the Shanghai stock exchange, making China Mobile the first Hong Kong-incorporated, Hong Kong-listed company to have its shares listed on a stock exchange in mainland China;
• DISH Network in its acquisition of Sprint’s prepaid wireless business, allowing DISH to enter the U.S. wireless market as the fourth nationwide facilities-based provider;
• Drillisch AG (Germany) in its $10 billion business combination with United Internet AG (Germany); 
• SoftBank Group in a series of capital markets transactions in which it monetized a majority of its holdings in T-Mobile and in its share swap with Deutsche Telekom; and 
• Telia Company, the predominant Swedish telecommunications company on multiple M&A matters, including in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Turkey.

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