Seyfarth Shaw Represents Friendi Group in Deal with Virgin Group to Launch Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa

Contacts: 
Brian Kiefer, Director of Public Relations
(312) 460-6401, bkiefer@seyfarth.com

Ivette Delgado, Senior Public Relations Associate
(212) 218-5273, idelgado@seyfarth.com

NEW YORK (June 14, 2012) — Leading law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP announced today that it has represented Dubai-based Friendi Group in its strategic partnership agreement with Virgin Group to establish Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa.

Friendi Group is the leading Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) in the Middle East. Under this agreement, Friendi will combine its operations in Oman, Jordan and Saudi Arabia with Virgin Mobile South Africa, creating a new regional mobile telecom with more than 1 million customers. Virgin Group will also become the largest individual shareholder of the combined group, holding a significant minority stake as part of the agreement with Friendi.

Headquartered in Dubai, Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa plans to expand into a variety of new markets and grow its customer base to 5 million by 2015, and will be led by Friendi CEO & Founder Mikkel Vinter.

The Seyfarth Shaw team was led by partner David Warburg, and included partner Charles Modlin and associate Evan Michalovsky, all of whom are members of the firm’s Corporate Department in New York.

Seyfarth Shaw has over 800 attorneys located in 10 offices throughout the United States, including: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Sacramento, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., as well as internationally in London. Seyfarth Shaw provides a broad range of legal services in the areas of labor and employment, employee benefits, litigation, corporate and real estate. The firm’s clients include over 300 of the Fortune 500 companies, and our practice reflects virtually every industry and segment of the economy. For more information, please visit www.seyfarth.com .