November 2009: On November 25, 2009 France Telecom and TDC have announced that they have reached an agreement to combine their respective Swiss subsidiaries, Orange Communication S.A. and Sunrise Communications S.A. to create the leading nationwide alternative provider of telecommunications services in Switzerland. At closing, France Telecom will pay a net amount of €1.5 billion to TDC and, as a result of a series of steps, become a 75% shareholder in the combined entity, and TDC will hold the remaining 25%. Prior to signing the final transaction documentation, which is expected to take place in the second half of February 2010, both TDC and France Telecom will undertake a confirmatory due diligence. The completion of the transaction will furthermore be conditional upon the approval by the relevant competition and regulatory authorities.
Niederer Kraft & Frey AG is the legal adviser of France Telecom. The NKF team is led by partners Philippe Weber and Peter Isler (M&A / Corporate) and Andras Gurovits (Competition; Regulatory); Associates: Philipp Candreia, Roger Föhn and Andrea Huber (M&A) and Nicolas Birkhäuser (Competition, Regulatory).