Skyfive acquires Nokia’s air-to-ground business

Munich — ARQIS has advi­sed SkyFive GmbH on the acqui­si­tion of the key assets of Nokia ’s Air-to-Ground (A2G) busi­ness. Both parties have agreed not to disc­lose the purchase price.

Nokia’s A2G tech­no­logy is parti­cu­larly suita­ble for provi­ding broad­band mobile connec­ti­vity for conti­nen­tal air traf­fic and has signi­fi­cant tech­no­logy and cost advan­ta­ges over satel­lite commu­ni­ca­ti­ons solu­ti­ons commonly used today. With the acqui­red assets, SkyFive beco­mes the world’s first A2G commu­ni­ca­ti­ons specialist.

SkyFive takes respon­si­bi­lity for the end-to-end solu­tion, which consists of avio­nics, tele­com­mu­ni­ca­ti­ons and IT systems. Nokia conti­nues to be respon­si­ble for selling and imple­men­ting the back­bone network — an inte­gral part of the solu­tion — to commu­ni­ca­ti­ons service provi­ders, based on its strong tech­no­logy and global deli­very capa­bi­li­ties. Thors­ten Robrecht, CEO of SkyFive, said, “For us, this tran­sac­tion is an important step on our path to true broad­band connec­ti­vity services in the sky and serves as a spring­board for global expansion.”

SkyFive GmbH was foun­ded in 2019 by three senior NOKIA employees through a manage­ment buy-out to build a specia­list air-to-ground (A2G) solu­ti­ons and services company. The company’s mission is to enable a breakth­rough in the digi­tiza­tion of air travel and meet the growing connec­ti­vity needs of airlines with a high-perfor­­mance, future-proof and cost-effec­­tive solu­tion based on 4G and 5G standards.

Advi­sor SkyFive: ARQIS Rechts­an­wälte (Düsseldorf/Munich)
Mauritz von Einem (Lead; Corporate/M&A/Tax Law), Prof. Dr. Chris­toph von Einem (Corpo­rate), Marcus Noth­hel­fer (IP & Commer­cial), Dr. Andrea Panzer-Heemeier, Dr. Stepha­nie Lenze (both Labor Law), Chris­tian Wege­ner (Tax Law), Dr. Chris­tof Schnei­der (Corporate/M&A and Compli­ance), Elisa­beth Falte­rer (Corpo­rate); Bere­nike Gott­wald (Legal Support Specialist)