DLA Piper represented private equity firm ABRY Partners LLC in the sale of Emerging Market Communications (EMC), a provider of services to maritime and other difficult-to-reach mobility markets, to Global Eagle Entertainment (GEE) for $550 million.

ABRY, which had been the majority owner of EMC, received an equity position in GEE as part of the deal and can nominate a member to GEE’s board of directors. GEE provides satellite-based connectivity and media to global mobility markets across air, sea and land.

The acquisition will reduce costs across market verticals for GEE users, drive product development, strengthen GEE’s portfolio of products and services and create a satellite and ground-based network infrastructure to improve user connectivity.

The DLA Piper team representing ABRY was led by Southeast US Managing Partner Joe Alexander  (Miami), partners Brian Gordon, Jamie Konn (both of Atlanta), Paolo Morante (New York), Julia Kovacs (Washington, DC) and William Bartow (Philadelphia); of counsel Brad Jorgensen (Washington, DC); and associates Puja Vadodaria, Andrew Booth, James Rusert, Kabir Uddin (all of Atlanta) and Priya Narahari (Philadelphia).