Baker McKenzie advised Infracapital, the infrastructure equity investment arm of M&G Prudential, on its investment in the CCNST Group, a leading provider of broadband services in Germany. The significant investment of the investor Infracapital was secured, among other things, for the further expansion of the gigabit company in Germany. The investment directly affects amplus AG, which is as a telecommunications network operator one of the flagship companies of the CCNST Group.

Established in 2009 for broadband expansion, amplus AG supplies an area of more than 150 municipalities in 17 counties of the administrative districts of Lower Bavaria, Upper Palatinate and Upper Bavaria with broadband services and own infrastructure.

The direct participation in the CCNST Group is Infracapital's first investment in Germany and is intended to further promote the nationwide development of a high-performance fiber network. The combination of exclusive know-how and many years of experience of both partners forms a solid basis for the future development of new markets and regions.

Baker McKenzie provided comprehensive legal advice to Infracapital in relation to this infrastructure investment.

"This is our client's first investment via its Infracapital Partners Fund III. Infracapital is confident that CCNST will play a key role in relation to the roll-out of full-fibre connectivity across Bavaria and beyond that region. Thanks to the very good and close cooperation with Infracapital, we were able to help our client succeed in this auction process. We were in the position to render comprehensive legal support to Infracapital on its first transaction in Germany and in a heavily regulated environment", comments Dr. Thomas Dörmer, Partner of Baker McKenzie, who jointly lead on this transaction together with Dr. Tim Heitling.

Infracapital invests in, builds and manages a diverse range of essential infrastructure to meet the changing needs of society and support long-term economic growth. Infracapital is part of M&G Prudential, the European savings and investments business of Prudential plc.

The Energy & Infrastructure team of Baker McKenzie regularly advises on national and international transactions, projects, financing and joint ventures. Recently, it advised Kansai Electric Power Co. on its participation in the first German-British interconnector NeuConnect, Commerz Real Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaft (KVG) on the acquisition of the wind farm Fläming, the bank consortium on the financing of the acquisition of the ista group, Creos Deutschland Holding on the acquisition of STEAG Netz GmbH, Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. on the acquisition of participations in German offshore network operators, the Bavarian State Bank and the Arab African International Bank as the lender of the USD 126 million project financing for Infinity 50 Renewable Energy SAE, ALBA Group, one of the world's leading recycling specialists and raw materials suppliers, in relation to the investment by a Chinese investor into two segments of the ALBA Group, and RWE and E.ON on the disposal of their participations in the Luxembourg energy supplier Enovos.

Legal advisor to Infracapital:

Lead: Dr. Tim Heitling (M&A/Energy & Infrastructure, Partner, Berlin)
Dr. Thomas Dörmer (M&A/Energy & Infrastructure, Partner, Berlin)

Team: M&A/Corporate: Dr. Holger Ellers (Partner, Berlin), Dr. Daniel Neudecker (Senior Associate, Berlin), Dr. Tino Marz (Senior Associate, Munich), Stephanie Sauer (Associate, Vienna), Jean-Francois Findling (Partner, Luxembourg), Elodie Duchene (Senior Associate, Luxembourg), Maxime Wagner (Associate, Luxembourg)
Banking & Finance: Dr. Oliver Socher (Partner, Frankfurt), Kathrin Marchant (Partner, Frankfurt)
Real Estate: Dr. Ulrich Hennings (Partner, Berlin)
Employment: Dr. Matthias Köhler (Senior Associate, Berlin)
Antitrust: Dr. Christian Burholt (Partner, Berlin), Dr. Anja Palatzke (Associate, Düsseldorf)
IT: Dr. Holger Lutz (Partner, Frankfurt), Valentino Halim (Associate, Frankfurt)
Commercial & Trade: Dr. Johannes Teichmann (Partner, Frankfurt), Marie-Cecile Opelt (Associate, Munich)
Public law: Dr. Janet Kerstin Butler (Counsel, Berlin), Dr. Claire Dietz-Polte (Senior Associate, Berlin),
Telecommunications: Dr. Joachim Scherer (Partner, Frankfurt), Caroline Heinickel (Counsel, Frankfurt), Prof.