Kinstellar, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Stibbe, and Binder Groesswang have advised CANAL+ Group, a subsidiary of the Vivendi group, on the acquisition of the M7 Group from Astorg, a European private equity firm. Paul Hastings and Loyens & Loeff advised Astorg and the other selling shareholders of the M7 Group.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's Paris office was lead counsel to CANAL+ Group. Kinstellar advised the company on matters of Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, and Romanian law, Binder Groesswang advised on matters of Austrian law, and Stibbe advised it in Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
Paul Hastings served as lead counsel to Astorg, with Loyens & Loeff providing local advice in Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
The M7 Group, which is based in Luxembourg and Amsterdam, is an independent pay-TV operator in Europe. The company's portfolio includes CanalDigitaal and Online.nl in the Netherlands, Skylink in the Czech and Slovak Republics, TV Vlaanderen and TeleSAT in Belgium, AustriaSat and HD Austria in Austria, and M7 Germany in Germany. M7 Group has also been providing Internet and telephony services to its customers in the Netherlands and Belgium since 2011.
According to Kinstellar, the acquisition of the M7 Group will allow CANAL+ Group to expand into seven new European countries. The acquisition is subject to the European Commission approval. The estimated purchase price will be around EUR 1 billion.
The Kinstellar teams were led by Of Counsel Karla Rundtova. The Czech team included Attorney Zdenek Kucera and Petra Ledvinkova and Associate Adam Nemec. The Slovak team consisted of Partner Viliam Mysicka, Senior Associate Martin Kosa, Associate Marko Ernek, and Junior Associate Livia Miklenciova. The team in Budapest included Managing Associate Zsombor Orban, Associate Adam Suto, and Junior Associate Daniel Nagy. The Romanian team included Counsel Zsuzsa Csiki and Senior Associates Andrei Caloian, Oana Costache, and Ioana Narosi.
The Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher team consisted of Paris-based Partners Ariel Harroch and Judith Raoul-Bardy and Associates Sandra Bouchouareb, Adrien Levallois, and Manon Top. In Frankfurt, the deal was managed by Corporate Partner Dirk Oberbracht and Associates Jan Schubert and Milena Volkmann. In Brussels, Partner David Wood and Associate Attila Borsos advised on the transaction.
The Binder Groesswang team consisted of Partners Thomas Schirmer, Ivo Rungg, Johannes Barbist, Markus Uitz, and Horst Lukanec, Counsel Hellmut Buchroithner, Senior Associate Wolfgang Guggenberger, Philipp Spring, Regina Krooll, and Sabine Apfl-Trompeter, and Associate Felix Fuith and Artan Duraku.
The Paul Hastings team consisted of Partners Alexis Terray, Allard de Waal, and Sebastien Crepy and Associates Stanislas Offroy, Josephine Fourquet, and Thomas Pulcini.
