Freshfields advises NEC Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiaries NEC Platforms, Ltd., NEC Europe Ltd., NEC Latin America S.A. and NEC Corporation of America (collectively, “NEC”) in the sale of their cloud and on-premises unified communications business (“UC Business”) globally (excluding Asia and Oceania, which is retained by NEC). 

The carve-out sale was accomplished through a series of complex, distinct transactions involving separate buyers in each jurisdiction.  The transactions in connection with NEC’s sale of its global UC Business consisted of:

• The sale of NEC’s cloud-based Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solutions business (ex. Asia, Oceania and Italy) to Intermedia, a US-based leading supplier of AI-powered cloud communications;
• The sale of NEC’s on-premises unified communications business in North America and Latin America (excluding Brazil) through the sale of subsidiaries NEC Canada and NEC Enterprise Communication Technologies and sale of certain assets of NEC Corporation of America to Forerunner Technologies, a US-based leading provider of telecommunications equipment and services;
• The sale of NEC’s on-premises unified communications business in Europe through the share sales of NEC Italia S.p.A. and NEC Nederland B.V. to Comtel, an Italy-based leader in information and communications technology systems integration; and
• The sale of NEC’s on-premises unified communications business in Brazil through an asset sale to a Brazil-based corporate communication and electronic security provider.

Freshfields advised on all aspects of this transaction.  The multi-jurisdictional cross-practice Freshfields team made up of lawyers from across 11 offices was led by M&A partner Gordon Palmquist (Tokyo) with support from senior associates Kohshi Arnold Itagaki (Tokyo) and Veronica Ferro (Milan) and counsel Umberto Santacroce (Milan). The cross-border Freshfields team has provided support on various aspects of the transaction, including Milan partners Luigi Verga (M&A) and Luca Capone (People and Reward), Amsterdam partners Brechje Nollen (People and Reward), Alex Doorman (M&A) and  Bob van Kasteren (Tax), New York partner Menachem Kaplan (IP) and London partner, Kathleen Healy (People and Reward), associates Giorgia Bove, Celeste Campisi, Filippo Alberti, Ludovico Bruno and Mara Ruberto in Milan, and associates Tijn Mandema, Maxine Lemstra in Amsterdam.