About

With a revenue of over €54bn, French company Auchan is one of the largest food retailers in the world. Since its formation in 1961, it has grown to now have around 500 stores in France alone. Sophie Boilly has been Auchan’s legal director since 2010, helping the legal team to develop in step with the company. Another notable member of the team is Sylvain Joveniaux, head of legal M&A, development and partnerships, who has been involved in a range of cross-border transactions and international partnerships such as the purchasing partnership with Parashop in late 2016, which grants Parashop a mandate to negotiate with all over-the-counter pharmaceutical suppliers on the behalf of Eurauchan, Auchan’s domestic purchasing centre. In another agreement, Auchan’s local subsidiary Auchan Retail France confirmed that it will create a joint venture with its regional partner Schiever and Système U called Alliance – this joint venture will ultimately lead to the formation of a buying office in France. In other developments, members of the legal team have facilitated an internal restructure of Auchan Retail France as part of its single brand project and will also invest €1.3bn in improving stores and to enable it to be more competitive in its pricing. With such developments in the pipeline, the legal team will be relied on again, and members such as Carlos Pedreira Freire, Auchan Retail International’s head of legal and tax, will be a key part of the transactions. As part of diversifying its Auchan Retail France business portfolio, the real estate division legal team, which is comprised of six members and headed by Stefanie Zietlow, also assisted in the opening of the company’s second 100% organic store, Cœur de Nature, in Paris in 2016.