CORPORATE – M&A – PRIVATE EQUITY
For decades, we have been shaping corporate finance law with you through our transactional activity and its innovative, multi-sectoral approach.
Our teams have always supported the development of companies, project leaders or investment funds. Today, we are still innovating every day to help you grow.
Our approach is global and our teams work with you even before the start of your strategic operations to identify the best opportunities and the best legal and financial tools.
Our lawyers offer their specialized expertise and creativity to intermediate-sized enterprise, international groups and their subsidiaries, financial institutions and investment funds. Pioneers in our international development, we operate in a resolutely cross-border context and accompany the development of your companies throughout the world.
Our expertise
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
We assist you in your M&A transactions, our ability to innovate and anticipate has been at the heart of our transactional activity for over fifty years.
Our research and studies on market developments and on numerous sectors of activity allow us to accurately apprehend any strategic operations you may need in order to provide you with effective support that goes beyond simple legal advice.
Our practice, in France and abroad, covers various economic sectors (finance, health, services, industry, energy, media, etc.) and all types of strategic operations of external growth or reorganization of groups and companies.
- Main fields of activity:
- Strategic external growth cases;
- Mainly mid cap and large cap transactions.
- Key areas of expertise:
- Acquisition and disposal of shares and businesses;
- Carve-out, including cross-border;
- Joint ventures and partnerships;
- Corporate governance;
- Acquisitions and disposals of participating interests;
- Mergers, demergers, restructurings;
- Shareholders’ agreements;
- Due Diligence.
- A recognized cross-border expertise:
- More than 50% of our M&A transactions involve an international party;
- Jeantet advises companies involving French and foreign targets.
- Support of a full service firm:
- Employment and tax law, environment, real estate, litigation, Commercial, Compliance...
- Notifications, merger control in France and abroad;
- Foreign investments.
Tailor-made and innovative advice: Development of an offensive strategy designed for you and your company. Jeantet is strongly involved in compliance and anti-corruption issues (Sapin II law).
A partner at the heart of its clients’ realities: Regular speakers at conferences, our lawyers are regularly consulted on major reform projects. Jeantet is strongly involved in compliance and anti-corruption issues (Sapin II law).
CORPORATE LAW AND GOVERNANCE
- Complex corporate law: issuance of complex securities, capital restructuring, joint ventures, social economy (SESS, ESUS), internal exchanges and share buybacks.
- European company law: European company, cross-border mergers and demergers.
- Corporate governance: pacts, charters, compensation policies (say on pay).
PRIVATE EQUITY
Our Private Equity practice differentiates itself by its economic vision of your needs, complemented by a specific know-how, which are decisive factors for a rigorous structuring of your operations. The diversified experience and training of our lawyers, whether in mergers and acquisitions, financing or taxation, form the solid foundations of our practice.
- Main fields of activity:
- Majority LBO;
- MBO;
- Venture capital;
- Acquisition financing;
- Refinancing and recapitalization operations;
- Management Package;
- Build-up operations;
- Tax structuring;
- A recognized cross-border expertise
- Our clients include major international and French stakeholders, such as investment funds, banks, mezzanine funds, shareholders and managers.
LISTED COMPANIES AND CAPITAL MARKETS LAW
- Initial public offering: Public offering, private placement or direct listing on Euronext Paris, Euronext Growth Paris or Euronext Access Paris: structuring of the transaction, drafting of the prospectus, filing with the AMF ;
- Securities offerings: Capital increase with cancellation or maintenance of preferential subscription rights, issue of complex securities (e.g. OCABSA, OCEANE, ORNANE, equity-lines) ;
- Public offers: Friendly or unsolicited public offers (purchase, exchange, withdrawal), delisting, takeover strategies (concerted action), anti-takeover defense ;
- Investment in listed companies: Crossing thresholds and declarations of intent, control issues, other reporting obligations, prevention of market abuse ;
- Assistance in corporate law and stock exchange law: General shareholders’ meetings, regulated information, share-based incentive plans for executives and employees, identification and management of regulated information ;
- Corporate governance: Structuring and organization of governance, executive compensation, organization and operation of boards, CSR, assistance in crisis situations and image risk ;
- Trust: Setting up of management trusts allowing in particular the restructuring of debts of all kinds. Innovative tool allowing the repayment of the debt by the market through successive capital increases generated by the exercise of warrants allocated free of charge to the trustee (equitization process). The newly created shares are then resold on the market and the proceeds are returned to the original creditor.
STOCK MARKET LITIGATION
Jeantet works on behalf of its individual and corporate clients beginning at the initial AMF investigation stage, and supports them through any administrative proceedings conducted by AMF’s Board and Sanctions Committee. These proceedings are often based on a criticism with regard to the timing or quality of publicly reported information, or even the alleged existence of market abuses (dissemination of false information, insider trading violations, market manipulation, etc.)
On a broader level, we assist our clients (issuers, majority and minority shareholders, investors, company executives, financial brokers) throughout the course of any litigations featuring a “stock market” dimension, meaning those with public shareholders, shareholder disputes (abuse by majority shareholders, governance issues), and even specific regulations (takeover bids, AMF Doctrine, “golden parachutes,” etc.).
For all of these disputes, we have developed an expertise based on the decompartmentalization of jurisdictions (corporate law, stock exchange regulations, civil and/or criminal proceedings) in conjunction with the firm's other teams (financial regulation, labor law, collective proceedings). To cite one example,
we have submitted to the Constitutional Council a Priority Question of Constitutionality (QPC) based on the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 in a case involving the crossing of thresholds by an action in concert.
DISTRESSED M&A
The takeover of a company placed in the context of insolvency proceedings cannot be handled under M&A rules. Our cross-functional approach to cases and the expertise of our Restructuring and M&A lawyers enable us to assist our clients in dealing with these specific situations and the complex issues that arise therefrom.
COPORATE LITIGATION
We combine our knowledge of complex transactions with a strong litigation practice and provide our support and expertise to you, executives and companies, by developing a personalized legal strategy to defend your interests.
- Conflicts between shareholders;
- Liability of directors for mismanagement;
- Post-acquisition litigation;
- Stock market litigation.
CSR has become a strategic issue and its legal aspects are being strengthened – Les Echos, 05/19/2022. Quote from Philippe Portier
In terms of corporate social responsibility, the paradigm is changing, according to a draft directive of the European Commission of February 23, 2022, and moving from a logic of “soft law” to “hard law”. Philippe Portier comes back on the vigilance law in this article by Muriel Jasor.
Paris | CORPORATE LAW AND GOVERNANCE
The French Tech Next40 2022: a Legal Survey
Equity financings by French start-ups and scale ups have reached record levels in the past few years, both in volume and value. We thought that it would be interesting to review the publicly available corporate documents on a selection of the most successful amongst them, to see what lessons we could learn objectively about “what’s […]
Paris | CORPORATE – M&A – PRIVATE EQUITY
Twitter buyout: the behind-the-scenes of the deal with Elon Musk – La Tribune, 05/06/2022. Quote from Karl Hepp de Sevelinges
Karl Hepp de Sevelinges decodes in this article by François Manens the clauses of the agreement signed by Twitter’s Board of Directors for the acquisition of the social network by Elon Musk on April 25, 2022.
Paris | MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Jeantet advises Basler on the contemplated acquisition of i2s’ distribution business
Paris, 9 May 2022 – Jeantet has advised Basler AG, a company listed on the German stock exchange in Frankfurt am Main (Prime Standard), engaged in the design and manufacturing of high-quality, industrial cameras and embedded vision solutions, with respect to the contemplated acquisition of the distribution business of i2S SA, a company listed on […]
Paris, Franco-German team | CORPORATE – M&A – PRIVATE EQUITY | TAX | EMPLOYMENT | IP, TECH & DATA
Jeantet advises Getinge on the contemplated acquisition of Fluoptics, a leader in fluorescence imaging as an aid to surgery
Paris, 3 May 2022 – Jeantet has advised the Swedish listed global medical technology company Getinge AB (publ), with respect to the contemplated acquisition via its French subsidiary Getinge Infection Control SAS of 100% of the shares and voting rights of Fluoptics SAS a leader in fluorescence imaging as an aid to surgery. The transaction […]
Paris | CORPORATE – M&A – PRIVATE EQUITY | IP, TECH & DATA | FINANCING | REAL ESTATE
Equality of arms before the Paris Court of Appeal : work in progress… – Finascope, 04/19/2022
Legal column by our partner Frank Martin-Laprade.
Paris | STOCK MARKET LITIGATION | CAPITAL MARKETS AND STOCK EXCHANGE LAW
Jeantet advises Figeac Aéro in connection with its financial restructuring
Paris, April 6, 2022 – Jeantet advises Figeac Aéro (listed on the regulated market of Euronext Paris, compartment B), a reference partner of major aeronautical corporations, in its financial restructuring. As part of this financial restructuring conducted under the aegis of the French Government’s Interministerial Committee on Industrial Restructuring (CIRI), an agreement was reached between […]
Paris | LISTED COMPANIES AND CAPITAL MARKETS LAW | FINANCIAL, INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL RESTRUCTURING | BANKING AND FINANCE LAW
Jeantet advises LBO France in connection with its acqujsition of a majority stake in Origine Cycles
Paris, March 29, 2022 – Jeantet advised LBO France in connection with its acquisition of a majority stake in Origine Cycles. LBO France, founded in 1985, is the leading private equity firm in France with €6.3 billion of capital raised. It holds interests in 37 companies and participates in their development in a wide range […]
Paris | PRIVATE EQUITY
The State entrusts a surprise mission to the boards of directors – L’Agefi quotidien, 03/28/2022
Partner Frank Martin-Laprade reviews the modification of article L225-35 of the French Commercial Code – defining the missions of the board of directors – and its consequences in an article by Bruno de Roulhac for Agefi. Publication in French >>
Paris | CORPORATE – M&A – PRIVATE EQUITY
Jeantet advises Impact Expansion in connection with its acqusistion of a minority stake in SomniPlanet
Paris, 23 March 2022 – Jeantet advised Impact Expansion in connection with its acquisition of a minority stake in SomniPlanet. Based in Luxembourg and Paris, Impact Expansion is a private equity fund specializing in the environment, health and structural unemployment sectors. Founded in 2017 by Yann Goïot, Olivier Félix and Johann Sasco, SomniPlanet provides home […]
Paris | PRIVATE EQUITY | CORPORATE – M&A – PRIVATE EQUITY
Focus on the ceilings for free share allocations – Option Finance, 03/03/2022
The allocation of free shares is undoubtedly one of the most widely used profit-sharing tools in that it motivates employees and corporate officers by associating them with the success of their company and/or group. However, although these grants are entirely in the company’s interest and beneficial to the beneficiaries, they can represent a significant source […]
Paris | LISTED COMPANIES AND CAPITAL MARKETS LAW
Jeantet advises Housinganywhere in its acquisition of a majority stake in Studapart
Paris, February 17, 2022, Jeantet advised HousingAnywhere, the leading dutch accommodation marketplace on its acquisition of a majority stake in Studapart, the number one student rental accommodation platform in France. With this acquisition and after acquiring market leaders in Germany, Italy, Iceland and the Netherlands, HousingAnywhere consolidates its leading position in Europe by size and […]
Paris | CORPORATE – M&A – PRIVATE EQUITY | BANK-FINANCE-REGULATORY | REAL ESTATE | IP, TECH & DATA