Heuking Team Advises CANCOM SE on the Sale of UK Business to Telefónica Group
August, 2021 - Germany
A team led by Boris Dürr, M&A Partner at the Munich office, legally advised CANCOM SE, admitted to the M-Dax of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, on the sale of CANCOM Ltd. including all its subsidiaries to a subsidiary of Spanish Telefónica S.A. With this transaction, CANCOM is selling its entire business activities in the UK and Ireland. The transaction was sad to be completed in the third quarter of this year.
The sale was agreed based on an enterprise value for the UK business of nearly EUR 400 million, which corresponds to a transaction multiple of 15.8x on EBITDA for 2020. CANCOM SE will realize a book gain of arround EUR 225 million from the sale. CANCOM will receive cash proceeds of around EUR 390 million from the transaction, which, according to the Executive Board, will be reinvested in particular in acquisitions in the German-speaking region.
CANCOM SE is listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and was admitted to the MDax in 2019. CANCOM is one of the leading IT systems houses in Germany specialised on digital transformation, cloud computing and IT security. The Group has around 60 locations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, and the United States and employs more than 4,000 people. In 2020, CANCOM generated revenues of about EUR 1.65 billion and EBITDA of about EUR 123 million. CANCOM established its UK business through several acquisitions in 2018 and 2019. Boris Dürr and his team from Heuking had also adviced CANCOM SE on each of these acquisitions.
Telefónica S.A. is a telecommunications and IT company listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange and is primarily operating in Europe and Latin America through its subsidiaries. With more than 120,000 employees, the Telefónica Group generates consolidated revenues of approximately EUR 50 billion.
Heuking has acted as the lead legal advisor for the transaction and was responsible in particular for drafting and negotiating the transaction documents. The Investment bank ParkView Partners, led by Dr. Cai Berg, acted as M&A advisor to CANCOM SE. In addition, CANCOM has been advised on UK law issues by the English law firm Stevens & Bolton, led by Nick Atkins.
Counsel to CANCOM SE
Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek:
Boris Dürr (Lead, Corporate/M&A)
Marcel Greubel, (Corporate/M&A)
Christian Schild, LL.M. (Corporate /M&A)
Dr. Christoph Küster (Corporate/M&A), all Munich
Dr. Henrik Lay (Tax Law), Hamburg
Peter M. Schäffler (Tax Law), Munich
Dr. Guido Hoffmann, LL.M. (Financing), Düsseldorf
Dr. Reinhard Siegert (Antitrust law), Munich
Astrid Luedtke (IP),
Marcel Maybaum (IP), both Düsseldorf
Dr. Lutz Martin Keppeler (IT), Cologne
