Kirkland Advises Tele Columbus on Public Takeover Offer from Kublai GmbH

Kirkland & Ellis is advising cable network operator Tele Columbus on a public takeover offer from Kublai GmbH, a bidding company of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners.

Kublai intends to acquire Tele Columbus for €3.25 per share. The acceptance period of the offer is to be six weeks. The takeover offer is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals. The key offer conditions are a minimum acceptance threshold of 50 percent, waivers by bond and loan creditors of termination rights due to change of control in sufficient numbers, and regulatory approvals.

At an Extraordinary General Meeting on 20 January 2021, a capital increase through a Rights Offering in the amount of €475 million and an authorized capital are to be resolved.

Anchor shareholder United Internet AG has announced to contribute a minority interest of 29.90 percent to the Bidder if takeover offer is successful.

The takeover offer followed a multi-step bidding process initiated by Tele Columbus.

Kirkland advises Tele Columbus with a team consisting of Achim Herfs (Transactional, Lead), Wolfgang Nardi (Finance), Anna Schwander, Tim Volkheimer (both Capital Markets), and associates Vanessa Schmieding, Angelina Seelbach (both Transactional), Tamara Zehentbauer (Capital Markets) and Fabrice Hipp (Finance).