Corporate - M&A - Private Equity

• Strategic operations involving listed companies (public offerings, capital market financing, equity investments, activism), including in the context of financial difficulties, in cooperation with our Restructuring department,

• Investment-related issues (thresholds crossing, declarations of intent, concerted actions, applications for a waiver or, as applicable, a dismissal decision (non-lieu) of the mandatory filing of a tender offer, etc.),

• Listed company law (shareholders’ meetings, universal registration documents, financial and extra-financial reports, corporate governance (including issues relating to executives’ remuneration, say on pay, say on climate, profit-sharing schemes, etc.), financial and extra-financial reporting, management of regulated information, etc.).

The Firm has an outstanding reputation for its M&A experience in advising its French and international clients in all their external growth, partnerships or restructuring strategic projects, in France and abroad, across a variety of economic sectors, including food processing industry, trade and distribution, energy, hotels and leisure, industry, infrastructure, media, telecoms and financial services (FIG).

As one of the private equity leaders in the mid-market and upper mid-market, our Firm advises investment funds, debt funds, family businesses and management teams at every stage of their investment, both in France and in their cross-border growth transactions. Thanks to its renowned practitioners in the legal and tax structuring and LBO financing teams, the Firm benefits from a comprehensive overview of the market, enabling it to provide its clients with the best possible advice in highly competitive processes.

Our advisory services on M&A transactions naturally extend to any disputes that may arise in this context and we draw on the expertise of our litigation team as necessary. We also have a recognized expertise acquired within the regulatory authorities themselves, enabling us to assist issuers or their directors, as well as portfolio management companies before the French Commission des sanctions de l’Autorité des marchés financiers in their implication for any type of stock market breach.

Listed companies turn to us to help them prepare their annual general meetings and we advise them in either drafting the corporate governance report describing the corporate officers’ remuneration under the latest applicable “say on pay” rules and recommendations, the financial delegations to be obtained from shareholders considering the positions of the various proxy advisors, or upstream during the preparation of their “governance road shows”. We also advise our issuer clients in elaborating the composition of their boards of directors and various committees, in line with the recommendations of the governance code retained as reference code.

Within the Corporate M&A team, we have developed a sector-based approach enabling us to be involved, in close cooperation with our real estate, real estate tax and real estate finance top-tier practices, in a full range of transactions including:

• acquisition or disposal of all types of assets or real estate portfolios
• setting-up of joint-ventures and partnerships
• structuring of real estate investment vehicles (regulated or unregulated – including the creation and approval of SIIC or OPCI and related management companies) and the incorporation of listed or unlisted property companies on behalf of major groups or investors
• contribution (notably to SIIC or OPCI), sale, sale & leaseback and/or partnership.

We advise our clients on transactions covering a wide spectrum of activities, assets or asset portfolios:  Office property / Retail / Logistics / Hotels / Residential (including social and intermediate housing) / Retirement homes and care facilities / Coworking / Coliving