Overview
PARIS (2 April, 2015) — International law firm McDermott Will & Emery announced today the arrival of one of the best known private equity teams in France. This is a major step in the development of the Paris office, which opened in May 2011 with four partners and has now grown to over 45 lawyers. The Paris office covers the full range of business law practices and works regularly with the other offices of the Firm throughout the world.
The new arrivals, comprised of three partners, Henri Pieyre de Mandiargues, Carole Degonse and Grégoire Andrieux, significantly strengthen the Firm’s Paris capabilities in Corporate areas, including Private Equity, as that office prepares to celebrate its fourth anniversary. Ranked in the top tier by Chambers Europe, the new group represents mid-market private equity fund sponsors in domestic and international transactions, management teams in management buy-outs and buy-ins, and French and foreign companies in domestic and cross-border transactional work and restructurings. The team also represents various shareholders in financing arrangements with venture capitalists and private equity funds; and is frequently engaged in IPO’s and other capital market transactions.
Henri Pieyre de Mandiargues comments: “What makes the private equity practice at McDermott unique is the one-stop approach to the deal. We can provide a comprehensive offering of highly ranked and recognized practices – including corporate, tax, competition, regulatory, employment – to address the associated issues that may arise with a private equity transaction.”
In commenting on the arrival of the new partners in Paris, Peter J. Sacripanti, Co-Chair of the Firm says “This marks the continuation of the significant growth for McDermott in Europe over the past year, following the hiring of various new partners in the Firm’s Corporate Advisory, Energy Advisory, Tax and Private Client groups—in our London, Paris, German and Italian offices.”
“Our aim is to be recognized as one of the leading firms in the Paris legal market, and the arrival of this group adds tremendous expertise to the Firm’s transactional practice” adds David Goldman, partner and head of the Firm’s Corporate Advisory Practice Group.
“We are delighted to welcome this group to the Firm,” says Jacques Buhart, partner-in-charge of the Firm’s Paris office. “Developing a global Private Equity practice and enhancing our reputation as a top international firm in the Paris market is a key strategy for us.”
Henri Pieyre de Mandiargues will join the Paris office as a partner in the Corporate Advisory Practice Group. His practice focuses on private equity transactions, mergers & acquisitions, corporate and venture capital transactions. Henri’s experience focuses on representation of top executives, management teams and employees in LMBO and LMBI transactions ranging to more than €6 billion. He is recognized as one of the key players in this field on the Paris market. Henri also regularly assists domestic and international private equity funds and corporations in their acquisitions, divestitures, corporate reorganizations. In addition, he represents family-owned groups and founding shareholders in relation to equity reorganizations and their partnering with private equity or venture capital institutions.
Carole Degonse will also join McDermott as a partner in the Corporate Advisory Group. Carole focuses her practice on LBO transactions representing both top executives and management teams and private equity funds. She represents management teams in the structuring/restructuring to their management incentive in connection with LMBO/LMBI transactions. She has represented top executives in transactions and IPOs ranging up to €7billion. She also represents private equity funds in their acquisition transactions. Carole also concentrates on corporate matters and has experience in venture capital, mergers and acquisitions and IPOs.
Grégoire Andrieux will also join McDermott Paris as a partner in the Corporate Advisory Group. His practice focuses on domestic and international M&A transactions, particularly leveraged buyouts and other private equity transactions. Grégoire advises private equity funds, founders and/or managers in their acquisition, fund raising or disposal transactions. He has also experience in debt restructurings and corporate reorganizations.
McDermott Will & Emery’s Corporate Advisory Practice Group represents a wide spectrum of business interests around the world, from global corporations and industry leading companies to privately funded and entrepreneurial driven enterprises, as well as the financial institutions that support them. The Firm’s highly skilled business lawyers focus on solving complex business problems, acting as strategic partners for clients and advising on the full range of corporate needs—strategizing on corporate growth plans and the subsequent need to access the capital markets or via acquisition through either the private and public markets or the bankruptcy courts.
Major European transactions the Firm advised on during the past year include:
- The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries joint offer with Siemens to create a partnership with Alstom in the energy field for €14.6b;
- The US$1.3 billion acquisition by Olam International of Archer Daniel Midland’s global cocoa business;
- Servier’s strategic partnership with Intarcia Therapeutic, Inc., valued at up to US$1 Billion;
- Telefόnica’s €3.62 billion rights offering of Telefόnica Deutschland AG;
- Lone Star Real Estate Fund III’s indirect purchase of the property complex Cœur Défense (France).
About McDermott Will & Emery in France
McDermott Will & Emery established its Paris office in May 2011 to provide multidisciplinary legal services to French and international clients with a focus on cross-border transactions in the areas of corporate, life sciences, dispute resolution, public law, tax, energy/Africa, competition, employment and litigation. Our Paris lawyers bring practical experience and impressive legal backgrounds to all matters on which they advise.
About McDermott Will & Emery
McDermott Will & Emery is a premier international law firm with a diversified business practice. Numbering more than 1,000 lawyers, we have offices in Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Dallas, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Milan, Munich, New York, Orange County, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. Further extending our reach into Asia, we have a strategic alliance with MWE China Law Offices in Shanghai.
