Altice France has just announced the signature of an exclusive agreement with a view to acquiring the entirety of Coriolis. Coriolis is one of the main independent French telecom groups, offering mobile and fixed-line services to more than 500,000 customers and nearly 30,000 companies.

Over the years, the company has developed expertise in customer relationship management, notably through its four call centers in France and abroad. This transaction allows the heavyweight of the sector, Altice France, parent company of SFR, to merge its customer portfolio with that of Coriolis, and to develop its offers, in particular in small and medium-sized French cities. If all regulatory approvals are granted, the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2022. Gide supported ELVI (the structure that owns Coriolis) with Olivier Diaz, partner, Paul Guillemin, counsel, and Anais Roudel, for the M & A aspects; Franck Audran, partner, and Mehdi El Alem Champeaux, for competition law; and Magali Buchert, partner, for tax law. Kramer Levin also assisted ELVI with Pierre Appremont, partner, on tax law and BCTG Avocats assisted ELVI on the legal due diligence aspects, with Séverin Kullmann, partner, Marion Michiels, Alexandra Carpentier and Aurélie Wagner on corporate and litigation, Sabine de Paillerets, partner, and Mélanie Chrétienne on employment law, as well as François Dauba, partner, and Mélati Gauvry on commercial law. Franklin assisted the Altice group with Alexandre Marque, partner, Antoine Fouassier, Adriana Chiche and Laura Isabelle Danet, for the M & A aspects; Myriam de Gaudusson, partner, and Amélie Nisio, on employment law; Sandra Strittmatter, partner, and Erwan Prely, on intellectual property, IT and personal data; Valérie Aumage, partner, and Nolwenn Vignaud, on real estate. Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner supported Altice with Julie Catala Marty, partner, Rémi Beydon, of counsel, and Antonin Pitras, on competition law aspects. Allen & Overy assisted the financier, the European Investment Bank (EIB), with Driss Bererhi, partner, and Zineb Bennis, on the financing aspects.