Clifford Chance

• Infrastructure Investors Awards 2023 - Power & Utilities Deal of the Year: Coriance / Igneo Infrastructure Partners
• IJ Global ESG Awards 2023 - ESG Wind APAC Deal of the Year: Zarafshan Wind Farm Project
• IJ Global Awards 2023 - Offshore Wind Deal of the Year - Europe - for Project Eolmed Floating Wind Offshore
• IJ Global Awards 2023 - Oil & Gas Deal of the Year - Europe - for Dunkerque LNG refinancing
  IJ Global Awards 2023 - Fibre Deal of the Year - Europe - for Vauban's SDFAST - Project Obelix
• PFI Awards 2022 - Middle East and Africa Central Asian Deal of the Year - for Zarafshan
• IFLR Europe Awards 2022 - Project Finance Deal of the Year - Karapinar Solar Plant
• IFLR Africa Awards 2022 - Project Finance Deal of the Year - Temane
• ProximoInfra Awards 2022 - European Roads Deal of the Year - D4
• ProximoInfra Awards 2022 - European Solar Deal of the Year - Karapinar
• ProximoInfra Awards 2022 - European Offshore Wind Deal of the Year - Courseulles-sur-mer

Recent highlights include advising :

Corporate/M&A and Private Equity

• Brookfield in the context of the largest public M&A transaction on the French market for the year 2024 consisting in the contemplated acquisition by Brookfield of a majority block of shares in Neoen from Impala, Fonds Stratégique de Participations, the CEO of Neoen and other minority shareholders, to be followed by a mandatory simplified cash tender offer. 
• Younited and its main shareholders on Younited Financial S.A.’s Euronext Paris listing
• Crédit Agricole S.A. on the acquisition of Santander’s 30.5% stake in CACEIS
• Ardian on £3.26 billion acquisition of a stake in London Heathrow Airport
• TotalEnergies on the consummation of its agreements with Alimentation Couche-Tard for the setting up of a partnership in Belgium and Luxembourg and the sale of its retail networks in Germany and the Netherlands.
• Hitachi Rail on the acquisition and financing of Thales' Ground Transportation Systems business for €1.66 billion.
• La Banque Postale and LBP AM on the acquisition of La Financière de l'Échiquier.
• Macquarie Asset Management as lead investor in Verkor's Series C financing round, the largest equity raise for a French start-up (€850 million).
• PGGM, lead investor in Electra's Series B financing round, as part of the largest fundraising in France and the second largest in Europe in the EV sector.
• A consortium of private equity funds, composed of DIF Capital Partners and PGGM, on the acquisition of c. 50% of the SAUR group, a leading innovator and service provider in the global water sector with operations in more than 20 countries, from EQT.
• IK Partners in relation to its exclusivity negotiations for the sale of Nomios, a European expert in cybersecurity and secure network services, to Keensight Capital.
• APG Asset Management N.V. on its €250m equity and quasi equity investment in Driveco, a leading French electric vehicle (EV) charging company.
• Igneo Infrastructure Partners on the disposal of the Coriance group, specialised in district heating concessions and power generation, to Vauban Infrastructure Partners and Caisse des Dépôts.

Fund Formation

• Kartesia, the European specialist provider of capital solutions for small and mid-sized companies, on the closing of its second-generation senior debt strategy, Kartesia Senior Opportunities (KSO II), at €1.8 billion – 80% larger than its first-generation strategy. This amount exceeds the initial target of €1.5 billion.
• Vauban Infrastructure Partners for the structuring and fundraising of a new generation infrastructure equity fund, Core Infrastructure Fund IV. The launch of  Core Infrastructure Fund IV marks Vauban Infrastructure Partners' fourth and largest vintage in its core strategy. The new structure marks a new chapter due to the size and increase complexity of the structure which now includes several parallel funds and feeder to address the needs of an increasingly internal investor base.
• Montefiore Investment on the structuring and fundraising of its new flagship fund, Montefiore Investment VI, together with a second investment fund dedicated to smaller investments, Montefiore Expansion.

Banking & Project Finance : 

• The export credit agencies (Bpifrance, Euler Hermes and SACE) and lenders (BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, ING and Intesa Sanpaolo) on the €4.4 billion project financing of Automotive Cells Company’s portfolio of gigafactories across France, Italy and Germany 
• The creditors in connection with the refinancing of the existing indebtedness of the group Infopro Digital for a total amount of €1.105 billion.
• Vauban Infra Fibre in relation to the refinancing of its existing indebtedness, including at project companies' level, whose perimeter includes c. 10 project companies which were set-up in the context of the fiber optic roll-out/IRU acquisition by Vauban Infra Fibre in past years.
• The senior lenders in connection with the initial public offering by private equity sponsor HLD of Exosens (ex Photonis) on Euronext Paris, for a valuation of €1,020,000,000.
• Quaero Capital and Energie Team in relation to the financing and refinancing of wind farms located in France.
• The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on the financing of a greenfield solar photovoltaic plant with a total capacity of 100-megawatt to be located in El Metbassta (Kairouan governorate), 150 km south of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.
• Government of Namibia on the first green hydrogen/ammonia value chain project in the country, setting important parameters for future development of the Southern Corridor Development Initiative in Namibia, including support on negotiating a feasibility and implementation agreement with Hyphen.

Administrative and Public Law 

• Société des Grands Projets regarding public procurement contracts for the design and the construction of the western and the eastern sections of the Line 15, part of the new Paris metro network project "Grand Paris Express".
• The sponsors of Proxima, a new entrant to the French high-speed rail market in relation to (i) the procurement of the supply and maintenance of a fleet of high-speed trains, (ii) the leasing or purchase of a maintenance depot and (iii) the related financing, with the aim to launch a new open access high-speed passenger train operator in France.
• The bidding consortia, sponsors and/or SPVs, or lenders on the award, the development and/or the financing/refinancing of almost all the French offshore wind projects and some in the EU.

Financial Services Regulatory:

• RCI Banque – EMTN program update and T2 issuance – Prudential
  Advised:
  • on the one hand the dealers in the update of the Euro Medium Term Note Programme of RCI Banque, notably by amending the base prospectus, to include the option for the notes to qualify as Tier 2 capital and to be MREL-eligible; and 
  • on the other hand, RCI Banque, on a T2 issuance. 
• BNP Paribas (as sole deal counsel) on the first Eurozone sovereign digital bond issuance by a Eurozone sovereign, the Republic of Slovenia. The transaction was arranged and placed by BNP Paribas, within on-chain settlement using the French Central Bank (Banque de France)'s tokenised cash solution provided within the European Central Bank's (ECB) wholesale central bank money (CeBM) settlement experimentation programme.

Capital Markets: ECM

• NSIG Sunrise and BofA Securities Europe on the accelerated bookbuild offering of ordinary shares in the capital of French company Soitec, a leading designer and manufacturer of semiconductor materials, listed on Euronext Paris.
• The Joint Global Coordinator and Joint Bookrunner on Avantium’s Euronext Amsterdam €50 million Publicly Marketed Follow-On Offering.
• Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners on the capital raise for Shurgard. The company has raised total proceeds of c.€300 million that will be used to grow the business via acquisitions and developments.

Capital Markets: DCM

• Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE, owner, developer and operator of sustainable, high-quality real estate assets in the main cities in Europe and the United States, in the context of its exchange offer whereby URW invited holders of its hybrid Perp-NC 2023 bonds (the "Existing Bonds") to offer to exchange their Existing Bonds for a combination of (i) newly issued euro-denominated deeply subordinated perpetual fixed rate resettable Perp-NC5.25 bonds to be issued by URW (the "New Bonds") and (ii) a cash amount.
• Accor on its liability management operation including a cash tender offer for existing hybrid bonds and the issuance of €500 million new hybrid bonds. In the context of this transaction, Accor has repurchased €442 million undated deeply subordinated fixed to reset rate NC 5.25 hybrid bonds issued on 31 January 2019 redeemable from January 2024, representing a success rate of 88.4%.
• Tikehau Capital on its €300 million sustainable bond issue. The issuance by Tikehau Capital, the global alternative asset management group, is its second sustainable bond issuance. In 2021, it issued the first ever public sustainable benchmark bond by an alternative asset manager in Euro.

Structured Finance

• Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank in relation to the implementation of a new private securitization of trade receivables originated by PROMAN (Valenz) in several jurisdictions (including the US, Singapore and Switzerland). This transaction was particularly complex to structure due to the peculiarities of methanol trades.
• IFC and EAIF in their investment in relation to a public securitisation of (i) telecom receivables and (ii) employee loans in Senegal and originated by Sonatel, a leading West African telecommunications carrier with the largest network in Senegal.
• BNP Paribas Factor S.A. and others on a multi-jurisdiction factoring programme for Atos SE and various subsidiaries of Atos SE. The factoring programme is a cornerstone of the group's financial restructuring framework.

Dispute Resolution: Commercial Litigation 

• SNCF Gares & Connexions (in charge of all French train stations), in a major dispute against Ceetrus group in connection with the failure of the Gare du Nord renovation project in preparation for the 2024 Olympic Games (Gare du Nord is the first railway station in Europe).
• Electrolux, a preeminent Swedish household appliances manufacturer and distributor, in the context of a follow-on claim initiated by Casino Group, a foremost international retailer, further to a decision of French Competition Authority imposing a €189 million fine in total on the members of the household appliances cartel (including Electrolux).
• Eckes-Granini in resisting enforcement measures in France and challenging the recognition of an arbitral award rendered in an ad hoc arbitration seated in Moscow, Russia. We have obtained a favourable decision from the Paris Court of Appeal in December 2022 denying the exequatur of the arbitral award and are now handling challenges and additional proceedings filed by the other side. 

Antitrust 

• Airbus, Safran and TAC in relation to the notification before the European Commission and China's SAMR, and FDI Authorities, of their acquisition of Aubert & Duval.
• Hitachi in relation to the merger approval process of the acquisition of Thales GTS, that triggered filings in 13 jurisdictions and involved the negotiation of a complex remedy package.
• Teva on all EU antitrust investigations concerning them, both with respect to allegations of abuse of dominance and anticompetitive agreements, which are currently pending before the Commission or the EU court.

White-Collar Crime & Compliance

• Technip Energies in the context of an investigation by the French authorities (PNF) into historical conduct by the former Technip S.A. group, resolved by the signing of a CJIP, the execution of which is ongoing.
• The World Bank in 2022 to act as the compliance Monitor for a large French infrastructure company. This mandate, which lasted two years, is testament to our compliance expertise and is highly innovative in that we are amongst the first law firms in France to be acting as a monitor for a French company.  
• Airbus with respect to numerous complex cross-border compliance matters and strategic risk assessments.

Arbitration

• Counsel to Avima Iron Ore Limited, Greyridge Ltd and Avima Fer Congo in a high-profile, bet-the-company ICC arbitration recently initiated against the Republic of Congo following the revocation of Avima's mining license on spurious grounds. The license was handed over to an unknown operator called Sangha Mining Development Sasu in November 2020.
• Act in an ICSID arbitration started by Odebrecht Latinvest S.à.r.l. against the Republic of Peru in relation to the termination of a concession contract to build and operate a pipeline for the transport of natural gas in the South of Peru. This concession was a major project intended to become a critical component of Peru's energy infrastructure.
• MMCS Strategic 1 in a major ICC arbitration against the Congolaise d'Exploitation Minière ("Cominière"), a DRC State company, 90% owned by the DRC Government.

Restructuring & Insolvency

• The group of TSSDI note holders including major pension funds and family offices as part of the financial restructuring of Groupe Casino. 
• The lenders including ING Bank, Mediobanca and an ad hoc committee of international banking Taiwanese institutions Schuldschein lenders as part of the high-profile restructuring of ORPEA which will likely lead to the first French precedent of large cross-class cramdown under the new insolvency regime and raises many complex issues. 
• The Turkish group Getir, specialized in the quick e-commerce. The court-appointed judicial administrators launched a formal bid process that may either result in the sale of the companies' assets or their liquidation.

Employment

• Amazon in various court proceedings relating to collective labor relations, in particular relating to multiple strike actions triggered by trade unions across several sites in France, and to the professional elections of Economic and Social Committee members.
• Hoogwegt on the reorganization of its activities in France, involving the implementation of a collective dismissal plan, the management of individual situations linked to the reorganization plan, the assistance before the Labour Inspection in relation to the dismissal procedure of protected employees, and the implementation of subsequent professional elections. 
• Morgan Stanley in a litigation currently pending before the Supreme Court, initiated by a former top manager challenging the application of incentive remuneration scheme.

Real Estate

• AccorInvest on an asset exchange transaction with Covivio Hotels with a view to reorganising the ownership of the premises and business concerns of some of their hotels.
• CBRE Investment Management and Virtuo Industrial Property on the sale of a logistics portfolio of approximately 190,000 sqm in France.
• Morgan Stanley Real Estate on the acquisition from Amundi of the Pullman Tour Eiffel 5* hotel in Paris (both real estate and hotel business).

Tax

• Atos, one of the leading French corporates, on the demerger of its Tech Foundation and BDS/Digital businesses followed by the tentative sales of (i) its historical Tech Foundation business to EPEI and (ii) its cyber-security business to Airbus and (iii) its sensitive and strategic activities to the French State. We also advise Atos on the tax aspects of the restructuring of its 4.8 billion financial indebtedness which has been approved in the frame of insolvency proceedings. 
• AccorInvest on the tax structuring of the swap of 43 hotel businesses located in France, Germany and Belgium against 17 real estate assets concluded with Covivio. This transaction involved an important reorganization of the AccorInvest group to prepare the swap.

Sport

• The French Tennis Federation (FFT) in the context of the sale of the French TV rights of the Roland Garros Grand Slam tournament (Editions 2024 to 2027).
• LFP Media, the commercial subsidiary of LFP, jointly controlled by LFP and CVC Partners, in relation to the sale of the broadcasting rights of the Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 championships for the seasons 2024/2025 onwards.
• The Ligue de Football Professionnel ("LFP") in the context of a commercial litigation initiated by Groupe Canal+ in relation to the rescheduling of several football games between December 2018 and March 2019.

Data Privacy & IT 

• Legrand is a leading group in electric and digital infrastructure solutions. Legrand is notably developing innovative connected home and security products and dedicated applications. This project named "Eliot" is at the heart of Legrand's innovation strategy and is integral to ensuring its competitiveness in the new digital era and Internet of Things market.
• Oracle has launched several initiatives and actions around the globe against competitor's data practices and their effects on competition in the online targeted advertising and advertising supported service markets.
• Sephora, the world's leading omnichannel prestige beauty retailer, has been accelerating its digital strategy.

Healthcare & Life Sciences

• Sandoz, an affiliate of Novartis, a major pharmaceutical firm, in the context of a follow-on action initiated by Sandoz against Janssen-Cilag and its U.S. parent company Johnson & Johnson. 
• Teva on all EU antitrust investigations concerning them, both with respect to allegations of abuse of dominance and anticompetitive agreements, which are currently pending before the Commission or the EU courts. 

Aviation

• Airbus in a cross-border investigation involving the French Parquet National Financier, the UK Serious Fraud Office, the US Department of Justice and the US Department of State.
• Airbus on its exclusive negotiations with Air France-KLM and for the creation of a joint venture dedicated to maintenance services for Airbus A350 equipment.

Clifford Chance's Paris office is renowned as one of the strongest international firms in the French market. It attracts a high-calibre client base through its market-leading position in various transactional and contentious areas and has notable appeal for handling cross-border matters. While offering a distinguished and comprehensive service, the practice is most highly rated in banking, capital markets, litigation and corporate compliance.

The law firm's thriving hub in Paris fulfils an important role in the firm's wider international strength. It is an important location for the firm's African expertise and it is particularly well equipped to lead pan-European cross-border matters, as well as in a global context. A broad range of clients refer to the firm's international capabilities in Paris and value both the team's role as French counsel on inbound work and its strength in managing outbound mandates.

"Clifford Chance has a very good network of local counsel, international expertise and very good contacts. "

"The firm is efficiently managed through its other offices."

"Clifford Chance has a very international team."

Chambers Global 2024 – France: International & Cross-Border Capabilities Department – Band 1