About the Office

Davis Polk’s lawyers in Paris advise leading companies in France and throughout Europe on a wide range of global corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and litigation matters. The group also has extensive experience advising U.S. clients undertaking transactions in France, as well as investment banks in deals involving French companies. Since establishing an office in Paris in 1962, the firm has developed relationships with the French government and with many French financial institutions and companies.

Recognition

• Davis Polk ranked:
  • 1^st among U.S. firms in euromarket bonds issuer advisers in the first quarter of 2010 (Bloomberg)
  • 1^st among U.S. firms in euromarket bonds manager advisers in the first quarter of 2010 (Bloomberg)
  • 1^st in euromarket high-yield (incl. emerging markets) manager advisers in the first quarter of 2010 (Bloomberg)
  •  3^rd among U.S. firms in French M&A transactions completed in 2010 (Thomson Reuters)
    
    
• “‘The lawyers provide great advice, are pertinent in their analysis and offer perfect support when accompanying us on negotiations.’” Chambers Global 2010

Recent Matters

• We advised AREVA, a provider of technological solutions for nuclear power generation, transmission and distribution, in connection with the sale of its Transmission and Distribution division (AREVA T&D) to Alstom and Schneider Electric. The enterprise value of the transaction is €4.09 billion.
• We are advising EDF, an energy company engaged in the generation, transmission, distribution, supply and trading of energies in France and internationally, on its €3 billion cash-and-share offer for 50% of the share capital of EDF Energies Nouvelles, a French market leader in renewable energy, that it does not already hold.
• Advice to Thomson, a French provider of solutions for the creation, management, delivery and access of video for the communication, media and entertainment industries, in its effort to improve its balance sheet and implement its strategic framework.
• We advised Areva, the French world leader in the nuclear industry, in connection with the setting-up of a partnership with Suez and Kansai Electric, a Japanese utility, with respect to SET, the subsidiary within the Areva Group that is to operate the new uranium enrichment plant that is being built in the South of France.
• $4.5 billion notes issuance offered pursuant to Regulation S and Rule 144A by Dexia Credit Local, a Dexia Group subsidiary specializing in public and project finance.