Racine > Paris, France > Firm Profile

Racine > The Legal 500 Rankings

France > The regions Tier 1

France > Dispute resolution: Commercial litigation Tier 2

Racine is an excellent choice for high-stakes M&A and shareholders disputes, with practice head Bruno Cavalié's as the key contact in that area. The firm has been recently playing a front role in the Suez-Veolia M&A battle, defending Suez, and was also involved in a heated dispute in the media sector. The litigation practice also draws on expertise from the firm’s corporate, competition and restructuring departments to handle commercial, insolvency and real estate-related cases. Antoine Diesbecq, Laurent Jourdan, Valérie Ledoux and Sandra Graslin-Latour are particularly involved. The firm assists a prominent client base, including several of France’s leading companies.

France > Employment Tier 2

Racine‘s prominent team assists a high-profile client base that includes a leading French bank and insurer, several leading French companies and numerous SMEs. The practice handles a high volume of strategic governance and restructuring work, often working alongside the firm’s insolvency practice. The group also demonstrates strength in advising on the employment law aspects of M&A transactions and was recently involved in one of the market’s largest publicly listed transactions. Litigation and sensitive individual files area other areas of strength. The practice is co-headed by the excellent Frédéric Broud, Carla Di Fazio Perrin, Sarah Usunier and Philippe Rogez.

France > EU, competition and distribution Tier 3

The experienced team at independent firm Racine acts for major international corporate clients on a diverse spread of competition and distribution issues. These include state aid, merge control, abuse of dominant position, anticompetitive agreements, and proceedings before the French Competition Authority and European Commission, as well as before the European Court of Justice. Antitrust expert Valérie Ledoux, who created the team in 2019, and Bastien Thomas, who specialises in the energy, mobility, agri-food, mobility, automotive and media sectors, direct the practice. Distribution partnership specialist Sophie Pasquesoone was promoted to partner in January 2022.

France > Industry focus: IT and internet  Tier 3

Racine is best known for digitalisation, information system security, e- commerce and computing work, handling both contentious and non-contentious mandates. The team acts as data protection officer for more than 125 companies in commerce, distribution, press, education and transport, advising them on their day-to-day IT issues. Eric Barbry is the practice head and frequently assists clients with the legal aspects of their digital transformation.

France > Insolvency Tier 3

Racine has an excellent team which often assists debtors and investors. The practice handles a large volume of work, principally acting in mid-size market restructuring and insolvency cases, but also has proven expertise in larger matters. Recently, the team has been particularly active in the food, retail, hospitality and industrial sectors. It assisted several investors presenting takeover bids on major assets. The practice has also worked alongside the firm’s real estate group to assist lessors with the debt restructuring of several prominent hospitality and retail companies. Antoine Diesbecq, Laurent Jourdan and Emmanuel Laverrière co-head the practice. Associate Lisa Ducani also deserves a mention.

France > Real estate Tier 3

Racine assists its clients at every stage of their transactions, from land development and urban planning to acquisitions, lease negotiations, financing, tax and rental management. Department leader Nicolas Boytchev ‘perfectly masters his subject and constantly offers the best solutions to his clients’. Involved in numerous logistics matters, Racine is advising Episo 5 on the €85m sale-and-leaseback acquisition of a portfolio of 27 logistics sites in France from the haulier Jacky Perrenot and a large international logistics group. Carol Santoni left the firm in September 2021.

France > Administrative and public law Tier 4

Racine houses a large and experienced team, able to assist clients with the full range of public law issues. The practice is especially strong in urban planning and development where it frequently acts for leading developers on public and private sector development and construction projects. Public domain matters, such as recently advising on several issues concerning several of France’s fluvial and sea ports, are another area of strength. Lately, the team has also been involved in a number of matters pertaining to the energy sector, advising on various public law issues such as regulatory, litigation and projects. Finally, clients also turn to the practice for public procurement work. Public and private sector companies as well as public local entities are clients. The practice is co-headed by Thierry Gallois and Sylvain Bergès in Paris alongside Damien Richard and  Anthony Bichelonne in Lyon.

France > Mergers and acquisitions Tier 4

Racine

France > Tax Tier 4

Racine‘s tax team provides key support to the firm’s transactional practice. The team has strong property tax expertise and regularly advises on significant asset and portfolio transactions. In addition, the tax team offers strong private equity and M&A capabilities. It advises a number of prominent investment funds and has advised investors on the setting up and IPO deals of several SPACs. The stand-alone practice includes tax restructuring, private client matters and litigation work. The practice is co-headed by Fabrice Rymarz and  Xavier Rollet.

France > Private equity: Fund formation