Slaughter and May and Linklaters have picked up the lead roles as Vodafone agrees to buy CK Hutchison’s (CKHGT) 49% stake in the VodafoneThree joint venture for £4.3bn.
Freshfields is also advising, handling the merger control and foreign investment aspects of the deal.
In summer 2023 mobile network operators Vodafone and Three agreed to merge. The deal completed last May, creating the UK’s largest mobile operator, of which 51% was owned by Vodafone and 49% by Hong Kong conglomerate CKHGT.
Now, Vodafone has announced that it has reached an agreement to buy out CKHGT’s stake via a cancellation of shares, funded by £4.3bn in cash.
Slaughters, Linklaters and Freshfields reprise their roles from the initial merger, with Slaughters advising Vodafone, and Linklaters leading for CKHGT, with Freshfields advising on antitrust.
Corporate partners Victoria MacDuff and Richard Hilton lead the Slaughters team on the deal, with support from global head of competition Claire Jeffs, who splits her time between London and Brussels, competition partners William Turtle and Alexander Chadd, technology, digital, data and IP partner Duncan Blaikie, tax partners Mike Lane and Charles Osborne, and pensions partner Chris Sharpe.
Slaughters has previously handled a number of corporate and commercial matters for the telecoms provider, and MacDuff and Hilton also advised on the tie-up between Vodafone and Three.
Speaking with LB at the time, MacDuff said: ‘It’s a mammoth transaction. The market in the UK has been ripe for consolidation for a while and the telecoms sector has changed quite significantly over the last 10 to 15 years. As it stands, Vodafone and Three do not benefit from the same scale as others, and this deal will help them achieve that.’
Linklaters is advising CKHGT, with a team including London corporate partners Robert Cleaver and Hugo Stolkin, Hong Kong corporate partner Roger Cheng, and tech, media and telecoms partner Rich Jones and tax partner Chris Smale, both also in London.
Cleaver and Stolkin also led the team that advised on the completion of the merger last year.
The Freshfields team advising CKHGT on antitrust matters is led by the London antitrust, competition and trade head James Aitken.
In a statement, chief executive of Vodafone Group, Margherita Della Valle said: ‘A year on from the merger, the team has made remarkable progress, as we maximise the full potential of VodafoneThree and capture the significant synergies.’
She continued: ‘I’m delighted that we will now have full ownership of VodafoneThree as we roll out one of Europe’s most advanced 5G networks, provide the UK’s best customer experience and drive long-term value for our shareholders.’
Karen Thorpe, who served as UK head of legal at Vodafone from 2021 to last June, and is now a legal director there, spoke with LB in 2024, as the transaction was underway, describing the merger as a ‘once in a lifetime deal.’
Under the terms of the deal, Max Taylor, who became chief executive officer of then-Vodafone UK in April 2024, and stayed on as CEO of VodafoneThree, will continue as CEO.
The buyout is expected to complete in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approval.
