Seacom

Client: Nedbank
Practice areas involved: finance, TMT
Value: US$650 million

Our work advising Nedbank on the project financing for the US$650 million Seacom undersea cable connecting South Africa and East Africa with the rest of the world is more than “high profile”; it will have positive consequences for African economies and millions of Africans. Seacom is a 15,000 km undersea cable system running from near Durban in South Africa to Mumbai in India and Marseilles in France via Mozambique, Madagascar, Kenya and Tanzania. Seacom’s 1.28 terabit per second of broadband capacity is expected to boost economic and social development in the parts of Africa it serves. It’s due to be completed in 2009 in time to meet the explosion in demand for bandwidth that the 2010 FIFA World Cup will cause. Partner Chris Fanner led the finance aspects of the deal: “Combining project finance techniques with venture capital investment for a multijurisdictional project in Africa made for a unique and challenging deal.”

Just as Seacom’s cables crossed borders, so did our legal work – the deal demanded an understanding of jurisdictions in India, Kenya, South Africa, Mauritius, Mozambique, New York and the UK. Expertise in telecommunications was drawn from our technology, media and telecoms team.