Our Corporate team is one of the most experienced and recognized in the Paris market. Our mergers and acquisitions and private equity team represents clients in leveraged buyouts, mergers, acquisitions, tender offers, joint ventures and private equity investments. We advise numerous investment funds and assist financial services companies in complex acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and company divestments.

We also advise issuers and underwriters in domestic and international offerings of equity and debt securities and assist clients with public securities offerings, flotation and financial regulations. Willkie Paris has significant experience in advising borrowers in the field of domestic and cross-border financing and in representing both issuers and institutional investors in debt private placements.

Our Competition and Antitrust practice works in close collaboration across our network of European and international offices.

Our locally and internationally renowned team focuses on providing counsel in all aspects of the competition and antitrust issues: merger control, state aids, vertical and horizontal agreements and abuse of dominant position (predatory pricing, loyalty rebate, cross subsidization, restrictive practices, etc.). Our practice also regularly advises on a full spectrum of complex agreements (joint ventures, R&D, long-term supply, exclusive arrangements) and develops compliance programs.

Our leading practitioners have a strong professional relationship with competition authorities at the European level (European Commission, Court of Justice and European Community Court) and at the national level (particularly in France, Belgium, Italy and Germany).

Our Finance attorneys provide counsel on a wide range of financing transactions in France and abroad for large sponsors and corporates as well as a number of leading lending institutions.  Our team handles syndicated and bilateral lending, leveraged finance and acquisition finance, real estate finance, private placements, recapitalizations and corporate restructurings and workouts.

Our Project Finance practice is at the forefront of local market firms advising on major transportation and public infrastructure projects including roads, rail, hospitals, airports, prisons and police stations.

Our Willkie Paris tax group is recognized for its broad experience in advising clients on tax-related aspects of all types of transactions.

With extensive experience in business and financial matters, our tax group is highly skilled and has a strong reputation for creating efficient tax structuring solutions. Our attorneys work closely with major audit firms to develop complex financing and acquisition structures in local and international matters.

Our practice is uniquely qualified to assess more accurately the risks and challenges faced by distressed businesses, as many of our preeminent restructuring attorneys have substantive experience in the finance and business sectors.

Our restructuring and business reorganization attorneys have vast experience in advising public and private companies in complex debt restructuring matters and insolvency proceedings.

We provide counsel to debtors, shareholders and investors, in the following areas:

•    Distressed LBOs

•    Sale of distressed businesses in large groups

•    Complex multijurisdictional restructuring

•    Insolvency proceedings

•    Liability lawsuits

Our team works collaboratively with our litigation and white-collar attorneys to advise companies and their management teams throughout the business restructuring process. Our restructuring and business reorganization team is widely recognized by prestigious international industry publications and rankings. Our highly skilled attorneys work seamlessly across all areas of practice to provide the maximum benefit of our firm’s experience to our clients.

Our Litigation practice has handled some of the most complex and high-profile matters in France and international jurisdictions. Our local litigators are among the most distinguished practitioners in France and international jurisdictions and advise on a broad range of matters and business disputes in civil and commercial litigation, domestic and international arbitration, local and compliance and enforcement and white-collar crime. Our areas of focus include the following:

• Civil and commercial litigation: advising international clients on complex procedures in multiple jurisdictions.
• Domestic and international arbitration: significant experience advising on merger and acquisition-related matters such as shareholders’ disputes.
• Compliance, investigations and enforcement: substantial experience conducting internal investigations and counseling companies and individuals on compliance and corporate governance matters.
• White-collar crime: strong white collar crime experience advising local and multinational managers and legal entities.

The uniquely broad experience of our Public Law and Environment practice has received significant recognition from leading local and international legal industry rankings and indices. Our public law team advises public bodies, local governments, semi-publicly owned companies and financial institutions on the construction, financing and management of public assets and services (underground trains, hospitals, stadiums, plants for treatment of household waste, etc.), including in connection with public-private partners. We advise on a wide range of domestic and international transactions in particular for sponsors and corporates as well as a number of leading lending institutions.

Our attorneys provide counsel in all areas of environmental law as it relates to M&A transactions as well as administrative, civil and criminal litigation, shutdowns of industrial sites, negotiation with French and European authorities and regulatory issues.