Telecommunications & Technology Law Firm Lebanon | Abou Jaoude & Associates

The Firm’s recent notable representative experience in Telecommunications and Technology includes: 

• Advised major telecom group Africell on the multi-million acquisition of Orange Uganda, the third largest telecom operator in Uganda, involving a complex regulatory approvals process before the telecoms regulators.

• Advised major telecom group Africell on the multi-million sale and lease-back transaction of its communication towers and tower sites in Sierra Leone.

• Advised major telecom group Africell on the multi-phase US$70 Million credit facility by global tech company Ericsson aimed at financing the equipment to be purchased by Africell for the development and operation of its telecom network in DRC.

• Advised major telecom group Africell on a multi-million buyout of a company that owns and operates a GSM license in Guinea, involving a put option with a complex payment mechanism and exit structure.

• Advised the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority and the Higher Council for Privatization of the Lebanese Republic on the highly complex project for the privatization of the telecom sector in Lebanon, involving the sale of two GSM licenses to build, own and operate mobile telecom networks and provide mobile telecom services in Lebanon, and the acquisition of existing mobile network operators.

• Advised on the US$150 Million cross-border syndicated facility led by Deutsche bank to a prominent telecoms group, involving the International Finance Corporation (IFC) as a lender.

• Advised on the establishment of MySay, a high-growth tech start-up and developer of a first-of-its-kind application providing statistics, and its first financing round through a multi-million private placement involving investments by prominent media and telecoms players such as the LBCI, Choueiri group, and MIC Ventures fund.

• Advised Careem (an Uber subsidiary) on the contemplated complex cross-border acquisition of pioneer tech app Markit.

• Advised pioneer tech start-up and developer of first-of-its-kind heart-monitoring technology CardioDiagnostics on the multi-million divestment of the equity held by the leading venture capital fund Berytech, involving a dual-currency valuation in “fresh” and “local” US Dollars amidst Lebanon’s unprecedented financial crisis, and a complex regulatory approvals process under Circular 331 of the Central Bank of Lebanon (BDL) governing investments in Lebanon’s knowledge economy.

• Advised a Lebanese-Swedish consortium on the establishment of a first-of-its kind technology up-skilling and employer-of-record project in Lebanon, aimed at remotely matching the high shortage of skilled tech workers in the Nordic countries with the abundant supply of tech talent in Lebanon, through an advanced Software and Data Science program, a project with a high national social and developmental impact on Lebanon’s education and job scene amidst the country’s unprecedented economic crisis.

• Advised major telecom group Africell on the contemplated multi-million total divestment of its telecommunications operations in Sierra Leone, Gambia and DRC, involving a group consolidation and the issuance and private placement of preferred stock organized by prominent financial advisors Lazard Frères.

• Advised on several multi-million acquisitions and divestments of operators in Africa by major telecoms groups, including Novaphone, and Comium.

• Advised major telecom group Africell on a US$40 Million multi-tranche fiduciary mezzanine financing through a private placement, aimed at funding the purchase of additional frequencies and the expansion of the group’s operations in the DRC.

• Advised on the corporate structuring of pioneer tech start-up Studio Al Fankoosh which aims at developing a first-of-its kind Arabic language digital media platform for Arab countries.