DLA Piper has advised Service-Telecom, a leader in the telecoms tower infrastructure market in the Moscow Region, on the acquisition of a 100% stake in Link Development, the leading telecoms tower company in Northwest Russia.

As the first strategic acquisition of a tower company in the Russian telecom market, this transaction is a very important step in implementing Service-Telecom's strategy to become a leader on a national scale in the Russian telecom market.

The combined company will manage more than 1,000 sites (mast structures and steel poles of different heights) in the key markets of Russia. It enjoys a portfolio of diversified long-term contracts with all federal mobile network operators; the average tenancy ratio of 1.8 is one of the highest in the industry. DLA Piper assisted Service-Telecom in all aspects of this complex project.

The legal in-house team of Service-Telecom was led by Elena Kilimnik, Chief Legal Officer. DLA Piper's team was led by Steffen Kaufmann, Corporate partner, and included Mukhamed Evloev, Tsvetan Naidenov and Anna Sitas, all from the Moscow office.