White & Case LLP has advised United Internet AG and its subsidiary, 1&1 Internet SE, on the acquisition for around €150 million of home.pl S.A. from its current owners, led by private equity fund V4C Eastern Europe.

United Internet AG signed a preliminary share purchase agreement on July 10, 2015, for the acquisition of all the shares in home.pl by its subsidiary 1&1 Internet SE. The purchase price for the shares amounts to around €135 million, subject to adjustment at closing. The company's interest-bearing liabilities of approximately €20 million will be repaid at closing. The share purchase remains subject to the usual approval of the relevant antitrust authorities.

United Internet is the leading European internet specialist with around 15 million fee-based customer contracts and more than 32 million ad-financed free accounts. Its subsidiary, 1&1 Internet SE, is positioned as the brand for home users, freelancers and small businesses. 1&1's specialties are its internet access products and cloud hosting applications and e-business solutions, including domains, home pages, webhosting, servers and e-shops, Personal Information Management applications (email, to-do lists, appointments, addresses), group work, online storage and office software. 1&1 is present in Germany, France, the UK, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Poland and Italy as well as Canada, the USA and Mexico.

Home.pl is the market leader in the Polish webhosting market, employs 240 people and currently has more 300,000 customers. Annual sales during 2015 are expected to reach around €25 million, with EBITDA of around €10 million.

The White & Case team which advised on the transaction was led by partner Piotr Szelenbaum and local partner Aneta Hajska (both Warsaw) and included partner Damian Beaven (Prague) and Warsaw associates Jacek Polewski, Malgorzata Mroczek and Katarzyna Kahl.