Allen & Overy is advising VimpelCom, parent company of WIND, on its agreement to form a 50/50 joint venture with CK Hutchison Holdings Limited (CK Hutchison), parent company of Italian mobile operator 3 Italia.

The joint venture combines Italy’s third and fourth largest telecommunications companies to create the number one operator in Italy for mobile customers. By combining the two businesses the enlarged company will have more than 31 million customers and will deliver significant synergies of more than EUR5 billion.

Andrew Ballheimer, Global Co-Head of Corporate at Allen & Overy, commented: “This is a transformational and highly complex deal that brings great benefits to our client’s business in Europe’s 4th largest telecoms market.”

Tom Levine, Global Head of Telecoms added: “We’re delighted to advise VimpelCom on this major milestone for WIND, and a large transaction for VimpelCom. This is a time of transformation for telecoms, and we are proud to have advised our telecoms clients on several landmark deals across Europe.”

The Allen & Overy cross-border team is being led by Global Co-Head of the Corporate practice, Andrew Ballheimer, Global Head of Telecoms, Tom Levine, senior associate Lee Noyek, Global Co-Head of Antitrust Antonio Bavasso, and Corporate partner Giovanni Gazzaniga in Italy. They were assisted by TMT partner Simon Toms, Antitrust partner Silvia D'Alberti, Tax partner Chris Harrison, counsel Tim Harrop and Christophe Balthazard, senior associate Dominic Long, and associates Michael Snook, Hugh Hobhouse and Antonio Ferri.

The joint venture company will own 3 Italia and WIND and each of CK Hutchison and VimpelCom will indirectly hold 50% of the shares in the JV.

Completion of this transaction is subject to obtaining regulatory approvals including EU competition approval. It is expected that the deal will complete within 12 months.