3 August, 2015
Stephenson Harwood (Singapore) Alliance has advised Myanmar Investments International Limited ("MIL"), the AIM-quoted Myanmar focused investment company (AIM: MIL), in connection with its investment in Apollo Towers Pte. Ltd. ("Apollo Towers").
Apollo Towers is the Singapore-based holding company of Apollo Towers Myanmar Limited ("Apollo Myanmar").
MIL led a consortium of investors to make an investment of US$30 million into Apollo Towers, of which MIL itself invested US$20 million.
Apollo Myanmar is one of the largest and most well-known telecommunication towers businesses in Myanmar, having constructed more than 1,100 towers across the country. It also recently announced an agreement with Telenor of Norway, one of the two foreign mobile network operators in Myanmar, for the construction of more than 700 further towers.
The Apollo business was established in 2013 by Sanjiv Ahuja, a global telecom veteran, the former chief executive officer of Orange S.A. and the current chairman of Tillman Global Holdings. Apollo Towers is invested in by various well-known shareholders including TPG Growth, a leading global private investment firm and its cornerstone investor.
Tom Platts, Partner at Stephenson Harwood in Singapore commented,
"We're delighted to have advised MIL on this exciting transaction in one of the hottest sectors, in one of the world's most active investment jurisdictions. The towers space in Myanmar is seeing a lot of corporate and commercial activity at the moment, at a time of significant network roll-out across the country by the domestic and international mobile operators.
Our role on this transaction clearly demonstrates the strength of our corporate practice in Southeast Asia, coupled with an ability to provide seamless Singapore law advice through the Stephenson Harwood (Singapore) Alliance, and Myanmar law advice through our association with U Tin Yu & Associates."
Mike Dean, Director at MIL commented,
"The investment was conducted in a short space of time against a backdrop of various Myanmar legal and regulatory issues. Having Tom and his Singapore and Myanmar teams on our side meant that we were able to cover a lot of ground at speed and in depth."
The Stephenson Harwood (Singapore) Alliance transaction team was led out of Singapore by Tom Platts, who was assisted by corporate Of-Counsel Helen Rhind-Hufnagel and Senior Corporate Associates Emma Nicholls and Joel Shen. Singapore law advice was provided by Corporate Partner Elaine Beh and Kyaw Zin Htet (a Singapore law qualified Myanmar national) at Virtus Law. Myanmar law advice was provided by Hnin Ei Ei Aung at U Tin Yu & Associates in Yangon. BVI law advice was provided by Appleby, and New York law advice was provided by Pepper Hamilton.
Financial advice was provided by a team led by Heath Snyder, Head of Private Equity (Southeast Asia) at Deloitte. Grant Thornton act as nominated adviser to MIL.
Apollo Towers was advised by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in New York, and Wong Partnership in Singapore.
