Winston & Strawn LLP is pleased to announce the addition of four partners to its Transactions Department in the Paris office. The group brings significant experience in the areas of cross-border M&A, private equity, banking, leveraged and project finance, tax, and restructuring to the firm. The team comes to Winston & Strawn from K&L Gates.
“We have worked together for several years and are delighted to bring our team to Winston & Strawn,” said Jean-Patrice Labautière, one of the new Paris partners. “Winston has a strong global platform and the sector-specific excellence of the Paris office will be beneficial to our clients. We are looking forward to collaborating with the team in France and at the global level.”
The new group of partners are widely recognized as leading attorneys in their respective areas:
Jean-Patrice Labautière regularly advises leading corporations, financial institutions, and private equity clients on the structuring, negotiation, and documentation of complex acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, and joint ventures involving the coordination of legal teams from different jurisdictions. He advises on all types of corporate transactions and is particularly active in the healthcare, financial services, and technology sectors. Jean-Patrice recently coordinated the acquisition of several divisions located in 25 countries by a French listed company that is the leader of its field, advised an investment fund in connection with the transfer of a pharmaceutical company for approximately half a billion euros, and assisted in the separation, in 19 countries, of a leading joint venture operating in the vaccine sector.
Nicola Di Giovanni focuses his practice on M&A and private equity work. He regularly advises leading industrial and investment funds in transactions such as acquisitions, buy-outs, and joint ventures nationally and internationally. He also advises his clients in restructuring transactions. Nicola has been advising investment funds and family offices for many years, in connection with their majority or minority investment operations or transfer operations. He also represents listed or unlisted groups in connection with multi-jurisdictional sale or acquisition processes. Nicola assists his clients in France and abroad, in particular in Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Mounir Letayf led his prior firm’s banking and finance practice. He has extensive experience in acquisition finance covering a large spectrum of financing products. His core areas of practice are real estate finance, project finance, debt restructuring, and structured finance. He advises lenders, as well as sponsors and borrowers on domestic and cross-border transactions.
Bertrand Dussert mainly handles the tax structuring of M&A and private equity operations in France and abroad for investment funds and international groups. His practice includes the assistance of individuals with various French and foreign tax issues.
“The addition of this group bolsters our European transactions offerings for clients, particularly those within the healthcare, technology, media and telecommunications, and financial services sectors,” said Winston Chairman Tom Fitzgerald.
“This group of partners reinforces the capabilities of our global M&A practice and creates three new departments in Paris from which to serve our clients: Private Equity, Finance, and Tax,” added Gilles Bigot, the firm’s Paris managing partner. “By welcoming this group, we are establishing a full-service office in Paris to support our clients’ needs in the U.S., across Europe, and in the Middle East and Asia.”
Source: www.winston.com
