Shearman & Sterling advised GMT Communications Partners and fellow shareholders on the sale of Melita Plc to Apax France and Fortino Capital.

Melita is the leading quadruple-play service provider in Malta and one of the first of its kind in Europe. Melita services both residential and business customers, covering 99 percent of Malta's households and dwellings, and has more than 110,000 unique subscribers. EBITDA has grown from €16 million at the date of acquisition to over €31 million at exit.

GMT and their co-investors M/C Partners, Gasan Group and Blackrock Communications acquired Melita from Liberty Global in 2007. During the course of GMT's ownership, Melita evolved from a pay-TV-centric cable operator into one of Europe's first fully integrated quadruple-play operators, with market leading positions in broadband and pay-TV and a fast-growing market share in mobile, a service launched by the company in 2009.

Founded in 1993, GMT is an established private equity group dedicated to providing buyout and development capital to European mid-market businesses that are creating, delivering and/or monetizing the digital economy.

The Shearman & Sterling team advising on the transaction was led by partner Simon Burrows, who was supported by partner Mark Soundy and associates Joe Bradley, Tessa Parkes and Richard Porter (all London-M&A).