M&A

Daniel’s representative M&A transactions include advising:

• FFP on its contemplated acquisition of a minority interest in International SOS, a worldwide leader in health and security services
• Bpifrance in connection with
  • its €1.92 billion acquisition of a 12.7 percent stake in French automaker Peugeot SA
  • Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot SA’s subsequent agreement to merge, creating the world’s fourth largest automaker
• CMA CGM Group on various transactions, including:
  • the acquisition of Container Finance’s container shipping and logistics business Containerships
  • the acquisition of an approximate 25% stake in CEVA Logistics AG, and the subsequent successful completion of its friendly public tender offer of CEVA
  • the sale to the EQT Infrastructure III fund of a 90 percent stake in APL Limited, whose wholly owned subsidiary, Eagle Marine Services, Ltd., operates Global Gateway South, a leading container terminal in the Port of Los Angeles
  • the acquisition of Mercosul Line from Maersk Line
  • the acquisition of Neptune Orient Lines
  • the acquisition via its freight forwarding subsidiary of a strategic stake in India’s LCL Logistix
  • the sale of a 49% stake in its wholly owned subsidiary Terminal Link to China Merchants Holdings International
  • the sale of a 50% stake in Malta Freeport Terminals Limited to Yildirim
  • the investment in CMA CGM of $600 million by the Yildirim Türkish group
  • the investment in CMA CGM of €150 million by the FSI (French Sovereign Fund - Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement), as well as:
  • the restructuring of its indebtedness
• Flex-N-Gate in its acquisition of seven European plants from France-based Plastic Omnium
• GL Events in its acquisition of Expo Indus
• Italian pharmaceutical company Recordati in connection with the acquisition of Orphan Europe (€120 million)
• Tocqueville Finance SA in connection with the reorganization of its shareholdings
• Thales on various transactions, including
  • the purchase of the Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) and Motion Tracking Businesses of Gentex Corporation
  • the sale of its e-Transactions business lines to Hypercom ($120 million)
  • its $2.2 billion agreement to purchase the satellite activities, transport signaling and critical infrastructure protection of Alcatel SA
• EADS, the largest European defense company, on various acquisitions, disposals and joint venues
• German lab-equipment maker Sartorius AG in its agreement to purchase a controlling stake in French peer Stedim SA and to combine into the latter its biotechnology division
• The investors (funds advised by CVC Capital Partners, Advent and Carlyle) for the LBO of Lafarge Matériaux de Spécialités, now called Matéris
• Lazard Frères and CAI for the sale of Saint-Gobain’s stake in Essilor and counsel to CAI for a rights offering for Euro Disney
• Advisor to Bloomberg with respect to regulatory issues relating to trading activities in Europe

Private Equity

Daniel’s representative Private Equity transactions include advising:

• Memo Bank (f/k/a Margo Bank) on the $22.5 million funding round and obtaining subsequent credit institution license
• Captain Train in its acquisition by KKR portfolio company Trainline, combining the #1 independent rail ticket retailers in the UK and Continental Europe
• CMA CGM Group for the sale of La Compagnie du Ponant, its boutique luxury cruise line, to Bridgepoint
• Goldman Sachs, Colony Capital and Merchant Equity Partners in connection with their acquisition of But, the French furniture and electricals business of Kesa Plc (€550 million)
• Wendel in its sale of Editis to Grupo Planeta (€1 billion), and in its acquisition of a majority interest in Constantia Flexibles (valuing Constantia Flexibles at €2.3 billion)

Capital Markets

• CMA CGM Group:
  • in its €1.05 billion loan arranged by a consortium of three banks (BNP Paribas, HSBC and Société Générale) as part of France's state-guaranteed loan scheme established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
    
  • for the placement of $945 million equivalent senior notes composed of $475 million of 8.5% dollar-nominated Senior Notes due 2017 and €325 million of 8.875% euro-denominated Senior Notes due 2019
  • in the context of a $200 million (with $600 million extension option) multi-jurisdictions new securitization program put in place by Nord LB and Finacity
• Counsel to Ingenico in its friendly tender offer for all outstanding shares of XIRING
• Counsel to Paris-based toll roads company Groupe APRR SA in the $3.7 billion IPO sponsored by the French government
• Bpifrance:
  • in connection with Vallourec’s €1 billion equity fundraising
  • in connection with Vallourec's €800 million capital increase
    

Daniel is Chair of the Legal Committee of the IFA (Institut Français des Administrateurs) and a member of the Royal Academy of Belgium.

Daniel was appointed Co-Chair of the Capital Markets Forum of the International Bar Association. He was also appointed to serve as a member of the Consultative Working Group charged with assisting the European "Expert Group" on the drafting of the European directive on Prospectus and Disclosure Requirements set up by the CESR (Committee of European Securities Regulators).

Daniel frequently speaks and writes on corporate and securities matters. He is the co-author of a chapter on private equity in France in a treatise entitled Private Equity - Jurisdictional Comparisons, published by the European Lawyer Reference Series (2010), and previously served as a senior lecturer on "Legal Aspects of International Mergers & Acquisitions" at the Institute of Political Studies (Maître de conférence à Sciences-Po)

• Rapport: Le rôle sociétal de l’entreprise – Eléments de réflexion pour une réforme, Commission « contrat de société », Le Club des juristes, April 2018
• Projet d’entreprise: renouveler le capitalisme, Foundation Pour L'Innovation Politique, December 2015
• Homme, entreprises, Société: restaurer la confiance, Editions Eyrolles, November 2013
• Proposal 2 «Organiser la société commerciale à partir du projet d’entreprise plutôt qu’à partir du profit» for the collective book Vingt propositions pour réformer le capitalisme, published by Champs, Essai, February 2012
• Chapter «Responsabilité sociétale ou revenu de l’actionnaire: faut-il choisir?» for the Rapport Moral sur l’Argent dans le Monde 2013, June 2013
• La Nouvelle Économie sociale: pour réformer le capitalisme, Editions Odile Jacob, November 2009
• France, in Private Equity, Jurisdictional Comparisons, First Edition 2010, European Lawyer, October 2010.
• Le social business: un nouveau type d’intérêt social ou d’intérêt de l’entreprise?, in La micro-finance: du micro-crédit au social business, Documents published on October 2010 in Actualités de droit de l’entreprise No. 28, further to the conference at University of de Panthéon-Assas which was held on May 11, 2010.
• The right law firm in a crisis, World Finance, March-April 2009
• General Overview: Introduction, adoption process, main concepts, strengths and weaknesses of the EU Prospectus Directive - Raising Capital in Europe - The Legal Framework Following the EU Prospectus Directive, Luis de Carlos Bertran for the International Bar Association et Richmond, December 2005
• Chapter 5: Prospectus regulation in France - Raising Capital in Europe - The Legal Framework Following the EU Prospectus Directive, Luis de Carlos Bertran pour l’International Bar Association et Richmond, December 2005
• The role of the lawyer in the restoration of market confidence, Securities Law, Newsletter de l’International Bar Association, November 2005
• Un cadre plus favorable aux introductions en Bourse, La Tribune, March 2005
• Chapter 'The role of the lawyer in the restoration of market confidence', in 'Droit et Economie de la Régulation - les régulations économiques: légitimité et efficacité', Presses de Science Po et Dalloz, June 2004
• Qui, du dirigeant ou de l’actionnaire, doit gérer l’entreprise? L’Agefi, April 15, 2004
• The Prospectus Directive: Blaming CESR won’t help Europe’s issuers, International Financial Law Review, November 2003
• La loi Sarbanes-Oxley doit-elle inspirer une réforme du gouvernement d’entreprise en France ? Revue des Sociétés, January/March 2003
• Les Leçons d’ Enron: Capitalisme, la déchirure.  Collection Autrement Dirigé par Marie-Anne Frison-Roche, February 2003
• Le nouveau projet de DSI s’oriente vers une déconcentration.  L’Agefi, June 26, 2002
• Public-to-Private, mythe ou réalité? L’Agefi, March 15, 2002
• Bourse contre ATS:  le régulateur / arbitre va-t-il rester neutre?  L’Agefi, November 28, 2001
• La Commission européenne réfléchit à l’avenir des marchésfinanciers: est-ce une bonne nouvelle? L’Agefi, November 21, 2001
• "L'émission de stock-options au vu de l'introduction en bourse" (Issuance of stock options in view of an IPO), Les Echos, July 21, 2000
• Selected Speaking Engagements:
• Private Equity Transactions Symposium 2011, organized by the International Bar Association in London on December 1^st, 2011
• French M&A in Germany, organized by Commerzbank in Paris on November 30, 2011
• Private Equity Symposium, organized by the International Bar Association in London on November 30, 2010
• Le social business: un nouveau type d'intérêt social ou d'intérêt de l'entreprise? organized by the Panthéon-Assas University on May 11, 2010
• Points-clés de la négociation d’un contrat d’acquisition, organized by Wendel on April 6, 2009
• Mondialisation, organized by Thales on September 27, 2007
• Principales problématiques juridiques soulevées à l’occasion de l’introduction en bourse et de la privatisation des sociétés concessionnaires d’autoroutes, organized by Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP on October 18, 2006
• Principales problématiques juridiques soulevées par le dossier APRR, organized by IEP (Sciences Po) on January 26, 2006
• The Emerging Global Standard for Corporate Compliance Programs, organized by Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP on June 9, 2005
• Mergers of Equals / Cross-border Mergers, organized by Lafarge on February 2005
• Mergers of Equals / Cross-border Mergers organized by EADS on December 2004
• PtoP and IPO opportunities across Europe: securities techniques kick in, organized by Corporations, Entrepreneurs, Funds & Investors Summit on November 25, 2004
• Corporate Governance: les limites du contrôle des actionnaires sur les dirigeants, organized by EFE on November 16, 2004
• Introduction en bourse d’Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône: aperçu de la réglementation relative à la détention d’informations privilégiées, organized by Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône on November 4, 2004
• Advising clients in an expanded Europe: the Financial Services Action Plan and the Accession Countries, organized by the European Lawyer and the International Bar Association (Vienna) on April 30, 2004
• European Financial Services Forum. Prospectus and transparency directives: EU issuers, organized by the International Financial Law Review (London) on April 21, 2004
• The restoration of market confidence: should the lawyer have a role? organized by the World Federation of Exchanges (New York) on October 14, 2003