April 23, 2012 4:59 PM

Linklaters, Herbert Smith Advise on $1.7 Billion Vodafone Deal

Posted by Tom Huddleston Jr.

British mobile phone company Vodafone Group has agreed to purchase London-based Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW), which provides businesses with voice, data, and intellectual property communications services.

Vodafone said Monday that it will pay roughly 62 cents in cash for each CWW share, for a total of $1.7 billion. The price represents a premium of 92 percent over CWW's closing price on February 10, the last day of trading before Vodafone's interest in the target company became public.

The Wall Street Journal notes that the deal-which still requires the approval of CWW shareholders, and is being met with skepticism by 19 percent stakeholder Orbis-comes a week after India's Tata Communications decided against bidding for CWW.

Linklaters is advising Vodafone on the purchase, with a deal team led by corporate partners Iain Fenn and Clodagh Hayes. Partner Michael Cutting is advising Vodafone on competition aspects of the deal. Vodafone in-house lawyers Alex Deacon and Nick Woodrow are also working on the matter.

Linklaters advised Vodafone last year on the sale of the company's 44 percent stake in French wireless service company SFR to Vivendi for $11.3 billion.

CWW turned to Herbert Smith for legal advice on the deal, according to a company spokesman. The firm did not immediately respond to a request for further information.

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