Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (‘Freshfields’) has advised Interoute, the owner-operator of one of Europe’s largest networks and a global cloud services platform, on its acquisition by the leading global cloud networking provider GTT Communications, Inc. (‘GTT’) for €1.9bn.
 
The acquisition greatly expands the European cloud network of GTT through adding Interoute’s 72,000 km of fibre; 17 data centres; and 51 co-location centres.  In addition, GTT’s customers will have access to Interoute’s market-leading cloud platform and innovative Edge Software Defined WAN service, which optimises access to applications in data centres and in the cloud.  
 
The multijurisdictional Freshfields team was led by partners Natasha Good in London, Valerie Ford Jacob in the US, and Alex Mitchell and Denise Ryan, who led on finance matters.
 
Commenting on the transaction, Natasha Good said: “This deal shows the crucial role of infrastructure players in delivering bandwidth, data exchange and cloud storage to enable today’s leading tech companies to meet ever increasing business and consumer demands.”
 
“We are delighted to help Interoute and its shareholders in this consolidation to create a player with significant international presence.”
 
This transaction marks Freshfields’ continued involvement in advising on market-leading technology deals. According to Mergermarket(1), the firm has advised on more high value technology deals in Europe (as ranked by deal value) in 2017 than any other firm.