Latham Advises Orange Before the European Commission on the Acquisitions of VOO and Brutélé in Belgium

Latham & Watkins has advised Orange in connection with the acquisition of VOO and Brutélé, two major providers of fixed telecommunication services in Belgium, operating mainly in Wallonia and the Brussels Capital region. Orange is the second largest mobile provider in Belgium, while VOO and Brutélé together are the second largest provider of fixed telecommunication services in the areas covered by their fixed networks.

The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation (phase 2). However, on March 20, 2023, the European Commission cleared the transaction subject to Orange’s commitment to provide access to Telenet, a subsidiary of Liberty Global and one of the leading telecom operators in the north of Belgium, to the existing fixed network infrastructure it is acquiring from VOO and Brutélé in the Walloon region and parts of Brussels, as well as to the future fiber network where it will be deployed to replace the cable network in the coming years.

The Latham team was led by Paris antitrust partner Jacques-Philippe Gunther and Brussels antitrust partner John Wileur, with Paris associates Laure Maes and Julien Morize, and Brussels associate Axelle Aubry.