Corporate / M&A Lawyers

Regardless of the nature of your company, whether you are listed or not, whether you are a multinational, a family group, an institutional investor, an investment fund, a manager, an entrepreneur, a unicorn or a start-up, we can offer you personalised, tailored and innovative solutions in all fields of transactional and corporate law such as M&A, private equity, capital markets, restructuring, IPOs and privatisations.

Located at the heart of CMS's strategy, Corporate/M&A has undergone significant expansion in France and internationally, with our dedicated Corporate/M&A team now totalling around 40 lawyers in France and 700 abroad.

We have built expertise in every sector, particularly in banking, consumer products, energy, infrastructure, insurance, life sciences, the hotel industry, real estate and construction, technology, and media. As a result of this expertise, we can determine the strategic issues and risks specific to your business. We can gain an understanding of your problems regarding a particular transaction and assist you with creative, relevant advice.

Our team can assist you with all aspects of Corporate/M&A, both in France and abroad. In particular, the Corporate/M&A department has earned a first-rate reputation in the following fields:

M&A: we support our clients (industrial players, funds, entrepreneurs, etc.) in M&A cases of all kinds (disposals, acquisitions, spin-offs, private equity, joint ventures, venture capital, etc.). Our department includes lawyers with particular expertise in cross-border transactions involving several countries.

For all transactional business, we are fortunate to be able to rely on the firm's other areas of expertise in terms of tax law (structuring, etc.), employment law (employee information/consultation, etc.), competition (antitrust clearance, etc.), real estate, regulatory issues, and acquisition financing, in addition to our unique presence in locations all over the world.

Listed and non-listed corporate law: we have developed a rare and innovative practice with expertise in listed and non-listed corporate law. We are able to deal with all complex issues, particularly equity operations (capital transactions, issuing securities, etc.), reorganisations and restructuring (mergers, contributions, cross-border mergers, international reorganisations, etc.), profit-sharing mechanisms for managers and executives, company governance, and financial markets law (regulated information, market transactions, ECM, DCM, etc.).

In particular, we use the firm's expertise in fiscal and employment law, the presence of the CMS network, and a doctrine team formed of lawyers, law professors (Sorbonne, HEC, Nanterre, etc.) and former government officials (the French Financial Markets Authority (Autorité des marchés financiers – AMF), the Council of State, etc.). We are also involved in authoring a number of articles and reference documents (e.g. Mémento Sociétés Commerciales, Editions Francis Lefebvre). In addition, we participate in consultations organised as part of planned legislative reforms.

M&A litigation/corporate law: with support from the Dispute Resolution department, we also deal with all of your disputes regarding corporate law and M&A transactions (conflicts between partners, enforcement of liability guarantees, liability lawsuits against executives, cases before the AMF, etc.).

Family businesses: In addition, we also have particular and relevant expertise regarding family businesses (SMEs) and their shareholders, and offer cross-disciplinary advisory services that cover your needs in terms of family governance, handover of the company, succession, and inheritance tax.
Alongside our tax department's expertise, our lawyers rely on a team of specialist inheritance lawyers and on the advice of other industry players (notaries, private banks, etc.).

Rankings/testimonials: for many years, our Corporate/M&A practice has regularly been listed in the Top 5 of rankings such as Bloomberg, Mergermarket, and Thomson Reuters.

Our practice is also listed in the most widely recognised guides, such as Chambers, IFLR, and Legal 500. For example, our entry in the 2015 edition of Chambers Europe reads:
"Significant practice with recognised experience in the complex field of mid-market M&A. Offers cross-practice expertise from members of teams such as tax, employment and litigation to provide assistance on corporate matters. Significant sectors of focus include energy, life sciences and consumer goods."Customer testimonials: "Nothing short of fantastic; the lawyers were fully focused, extremely dedicated, very pragmatic and, most importantly, very commercial." "Its lawyers had a great understanding of our needs and were available at all times."

Noteworthy clients: Saint-Gobain, Axa, Coface, Nissan, Accor, Compagnie Fruitière, General Electric, Vivalto Santé, Générale de Santé, 21 CP, NGE, and more...

CMS Francis Lefebvre Avocats was named “France M&A Legal Adviser of the year 2017” by the Mergermarket European M&A Awards. The awards are granted for creative advisory work on complex transactions. The rigorous judging process starts with an analysis of M&A league table data to identify the top-ranked firms.