Faustine Viala

Prior to joining Willkie in 2006, Faustine was an associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Paris.

In 2005, she completed a six-month secondment within the legal department of Michelin. Faustine also completed a nine-month secondment in the antitrust team of Willkie’s New York office.

Faustine has published numerous articles on competition and distribution law and more recently:

• Nouveau contrôle des concentrations transfrontalières: les recommandations de l'Autorité de la concurrence française (Magazine des Affaires)
• Nouvelle Etape dans l’atteinte au secret de l’instruction (Les Echos)
• La notion de déséquilibre significatif, à ne pas négliger dans la rédaction des contrats de distribution (Option Droit et Affaires)

Faustine has advised:

Litigation Before Competition Authorities

• Naval Group before both the FCA and the Conseil d’Etat in connection with the clearing of the creation of a joint venture between Naval Group and Piriou
• Essilor in relation to a dawn raid by French competition authorities for alleged abuse of dominant position and collusion aiming at refusing to sell optics to internet players
• France Telecom/Orange in an abuse of dominant position matter brought by Internet transit provider Cogent before the Paris Court of Appeal, which rejected all of Cogent’s claims
• France Telecom/Orange before the French Competition Authority against Outremer Télécom for an alleged cartel and abuse of dominant position case and obtained victory
• Reed Midem (Reed Elsevier group) in different matters before French courts, notably in the context of unfair competition actions, and obtained victory
• Sportfive (Lagardère group) before the French Competition Authority in the context of an alleged cartel and abuse of dominant position case
• Disney before the French Competition Authority in the context of an alleged cartel case
• Amaury Group in a case relating to alleged abuse of dominant position against a new entrant before the French Competition Authority and obtained victory before the Court of Appeal, which quashed the French Antitrust Authority’s decision to inspect Amaury’s Group premises

Merger Control

• PAI Partners in its acquisition of a majority stake in Beautynova, a leading global professional haircare platform
• PAI Partners in its sale of Perstorp Holding AB, a leading specialty chemicals group, to Petronas Chemicals Group Berhad
• PAI Partners in connection with its $3.3 billion pending acquisition of Tropicana, Naked and other select juice brands across North America from PepsiCo, Inc.
• PAI Partners on the contemplated acquisition of SDG Pharma, a world leader in the pharmaceutical glass packaging industry
• PAI Partners in its investment in the Apave Group, a specialist in the field of technical, environmental, human and digital risk management
• Intermediate Capital Group in connection with its investment in Circet, the leading telecommunications network service provider in Europe
• Ardian on the sale of Solina, the leading European manufacturer of ingredient and seasoning blends for the food industry, to Astorg
• The consortium formed and led by Meridiam including Strabag and supported by Munich Airport in connection with the successful bid, signing and closing of the concession of the Sofia Airport in the Republic of Bulgaria
• Air France KLM on its €4 billion French State measures to recapitalize Air France and its holding company
• Five Arrows Principal Investments and IK Investment Partners on agreement for Insight Partners to invest in iad, the leading French digital network of real estate agents
• Questel and its financial sponsors Eurazeo, IK Investment Partners and Raise Investissement on the contemplated acquisition of NovumIP from Paragon Partners
• The consortium led by Banque des Territoires, CNP Assurances and EDF Invest on the acquisition of a 50% equity interest in Orange Concessions
• Ardian on the acquisition of a majority stake in AD Education, a European education platform specialized in arts, digital and audiovisual
• PAI Partners on the acquisition of a majority stake in Euro Ethnic Foods (EEF), the company that owns and operates the grocery section of leading food retailer Grand Frais
• IK Investment Partners and RAISE Investissement on the sale of Questel, a major worldwide technology player in the area of intellectual property management, to Eurazeo Capital
• IK Investment Partners, through its IK IX Fund, on the contemplated acquisition of a majority stake in Kersia, a global leader in biosecurity and food safety from Ardian
• PAI Partners in connection with its contemplated acquisition of a majority stake in Euronext listed Amplitude Surgical, a French leader on the global surgical technology market for lower-limb orthopedics
• Air France KLM and Air France on securing funding of €7 billion to help overcome the COVID-19 crisis
• Lagardère on the contemplated sale of Lagardère Sports to H.I.G. Capital
• Arch Capital Group Ltd. in its acquisition of a 29.5% stake in Coface, the French-based leader in the global trade credit insurance listed on Euronext Paris, from Natixis
• IK Investment Partners in its agreement to sell Exxelia to HLD Europe
• IK Investment Partners, through its IK VII Fund, in its agreement to sell Cérélia to Ardian
• Arkema on the contemplated sale of its Functional Polyolefins business to SK Global Chemical
• Latour Capital on its investment in the Primonial group, a major player in the design, management and advice on investment solutions in France
• Sagard in its acquisition of Sterimed, a leading manufacturer of sterile packaging for the pharmaceutical industry, from Meeschaert Capital Partners
  
• CMA CGM on the acquisition of Container Finance’s container shipping and logistics business Containerships
  
• PAI Partners in its agreement to acquire StellaGroup, a market leader in the production of doors, gates, shutters and enclosures for industrial and residential buildings in France, from ICG
• IK Investment Partners in its acquisition, through its IK Small Cap I Fund, of Domia Group, owner of Acadomia, owner of Acadomia (the number one French player in the private tutoring market) and Shiva (the fast-growing French home cleaning provider), from Metric Capital Partners
• IK Investment Partners in connection with its contemplated acquisition, through its IK VIII Fund, of a majority stake in Mademoiselle Desserts, a French leader in the frozen bakery industry
• CMA CGM on its contemplated acquisition of an approximate 25% stake in CEVA Logistics AG
• La Martinière Groupe and its main shareholders in connection with the combination with Média-Participations creating the third-largest publishing group in France
• Arkema with regards to the acquisition of the whole adhesives business of Total SA (Bostik France)
• Thales as an interested third party before the European Commission in the context of the Airbus/Safran joint venture
• Thales with regards to the acquisition of Connect in the United States
• Arkema in its acquisition of the photocures and coatings businesses of Total’s resin division
• France Telecom Orange in its procurement joint venture with Deutsche Telekom
• Lagardère, its subsidiary Aélia and Aéroports de Lyon in their joint venture process
• Perstorp in its joint venture with PTT Global Chemical
• PAI partners in the €1.6 billion sale of its interests in Yoplait to General Mills
• Gaz de France in its $159 billion merger with Suez (handled merger review process before the European Commission and coordinated numerous merger review filings throughout the world)