Marc Petitier

Partner, Paris

Biography

Overview

Marc Petitier is a partner in the EMEA Mergers & Acquisitions team.

He is a renowned corporate lawyer having more than 20 years' experience representing clients in all manner of M&A, including public and private M&A deals, sales and joint ventures primarily belonging to the jumbo-cap to mid-cap market segments. Marc also advises his clients in connection with corporate governance strategy and matters.

Native in French and fluent in English, Marc is at ease navigating both domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions on behalf of multinational clients, including investment banks, entrepreneurs, industrials, listed and non-listed companies, from all sectors notably highly regulated ones. Recently, Marc has demonstrated particular strength in the financial, banking and insurance sectors, as well as in tech/fintech, energy and infrastructure sectors.

Marc also has significant experience in Africa-related deals.

Marc joined the Firm in December 2020 from an international law firm in Paris, where he was a partner. During his career, he has been on secondment for a law firm in London office and to J.P Morgan. Previously he worked as an associate at an investment relations consultancy in London.

Bars and Courts
Paris
Education
Postgraduate degree in business administration
Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1)

IAE

Master in corporate law and postgraduate degree in contract law
University of Versailles

Saint-Quentin

Languages
French
English

Experience

Sodexo (2024)
Representation of Sodexo on the spin-off of its Benefits and Rewards Services business, under the new brand name Pluxee, and its listing on Euronext Paris.

TotalEnergies (2024)
Representation of TotalEnergies on acquisition of OMV's upstream gas assets in Malaysia.

Banque des Territoires (Caisse des Dépôts Group) (2023)
Representation of Banque des Territoires on the conclusion of a long-term partnership agreement with Valorem, an independent green energy operator, to support its development.

Catella (2023)
Representation of Catella on the acquisition of 60% of the shares in Aquila Asset Management.

J.P. Morgan SE (2023)
Representation of J.P. Morgan SE as presenting bank, alongside BNP Paribas, on the mandatory tender offer by Keysight Technologies Inc, through its fully owned subsidiary Keysight Technologies Netherlands B.V., to acquire in cash all the outstanding shares issued by ESI Group, a French provider of virtual prototyping software solutions, not already held by Keysight.

Biosynex (2022 / 2023)
Representation of Biosynex, on:

  • the takeover offer for Theradiag and the merger between Biosynex and Theradiag;
  • the acquisition of ProciseDX in the United States;
  • the acquisition of the eye care business of Laboratoires Innoxa;
  • the acquisition of DOC2U;
  • Chembio Diagnostics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CEMI), a leading point-of-care diagnostics company focused on infectious diseases, for the all-cash tender offer for US$.45 per share;
  • the acquisition of Laboratorios Rhogen in Spain;
  • the acquisition of Bigix Pharma in Italy;
  • the acquisition of Medkoncept in Demark;
  • the acquisition of BHR Pharmaceuticals Ltd in the United Kingdom;
  • the acquisition of "Para'kito", the European leader in the prevention and treatment of mosquito bites with 100% natural formulas, its active ingredients and its IP (patents and trademarks);
  • the acquisition of Enalees' business going concern relating to medical diagnostic products;
  • the sale of a business going concern to ELITech Microbio relating to medical diagnostic products.

Agence des Participations de l'Etat (2022)
Representation of the French state, acting through the Agence des Participations de l'Etat (APE), as shareholder of Aéroports de Paris (Groupe ADP) on unwinding the cross-shareholdings held by Groupe ADP and Royal Schiphol Group (RSG).

Schneider Electric (2022)
Representation of Schneider Electric in connection with the sale of its business unit Telemecanique Sensors to Yageo.

Casino Group (2022)
Representation of Casino Group, together with Tikehau Capital and French public investment bank Bpifrance, on the sale of their majority stake in GreenYellow, the energy subsidiary of Casino group, to Ardian Infrastructure for an enterprise value of €1.4 billion and an equity value of €1.1 billion.

Eiffage, Arcade-Vyv Group (2022)
Representation of Eiffage and Arcade-Vyv Group on the first concession contract granted in France for outsourced management of a housing estate owned by the Ministry of Armed Forces for a total amount of more than €7 billion.

Pegasus Entrepreneurs (2022)
Representation of Pegasus Entrepreneurs and its sponsors Tikehau Capital, Financière Agache, CEO Pierre Cuilleret, Jean-Pierre Mustier and Diego De Giorgi in connection with its de-SPACing with FL Entertainment, a global entertainment group comprising Banijay Group and Betclic Everest Group, resulting in the listing of FL Entertainment on Euronext Amsterdam.

Macquarie Asset Management (2022)
Representation of Macquarie Asset Management, in a consortium with British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) and MEAG Munich Ergo Assetmanagement GmbH (MEAG), on its €2.5 billion EV acquisition of Reden Solar, from InfraVia Capital Partners and Eurazeo.

Macif (2021)
Representation of Macif in connection with its majority investment in Crédit Expert, specialized in real estate credit brokerage.

Engie (2021)
Representation of the Board of Directors of Engie on the sale of Equans, the global multi-technical services leader for €7.1 billion to Bouygues.

Korian (2021)
Representation of Korian, the leading European care services group for elderly and fragile people, on:

  • the connection with the sale of its 50% equity interest in a long term care facility located in Ville-La-Grand, France, to existing shareholder DomusVi;
  • the sale of portfolios to Colisée and Vivalto Vie.

RTL Group (2021)
Representation of RTL Group in connection with the proposed combination between Groupe TF1 and Groupe M6.

Activa Capital and Groupe Active Assurances (2021)
Representation of Activa Capital, an independent private equity firm focused on mid-sized French companies, and the senior management team of Active Assurances Group, on the sale of Active Assurances Group to Meilleurtaux Group.

Caisse des Dépots et Consignations (2021)
Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations on the sale of its minority stakes held in three biomass plants (Kogeban, Cogénération Biomasse d'Estrées-Mons et Cogénération Biomasse de Novillars) to PEARL Infrastructure Capital.

Chedid Capital (2021)
Representation of Chedid Capital, a financial holding company dedicated to investing in the insurance and reinsurance sectors, on its acquisition of the majority stake in Ascoma Assurances Conseils from the Husson family.

Catella Asset Management (2021)
Representation of Catella AB on the sale of its majority shareholding in French subsidiary Catella Asset Management SAS to Arkea Investment Services.

Aéma Groupe (2021)
Representation of Aéma Groupe, a leading French mutual insurer formed through the combination of Macif Group and Aésio Mutuelle, on the acquisition of Aviva France for EUR3.2 billion.

Engie (2020)*
Representation of Engie on the agreement with EDPR to create a co-controlled 50/50 joint-venture in fixed and floating offshore wind.

Silgan (2020)*
Representation of Silgan on the USD900 million acquisition of the dispensing business of Albéa.

Arise (2020)*
Representation of Arise in connection with the acquisition of a stake in Arise P&L by A.P. Møller Capital.

Engie New Business (2019)*
Representation of Engie New Business on the investment in tiko Energy Solutions AG.

JPMorgan (2019)*
Representation of JPMorgan, acting along Natixis, as sponsoring banks, on the takeover offer made by Searchlight for Latecoère.

GBL (2019)*
Representation of GBL on the acquisition of Webhelp from KKR for €2.4 billion.

Magnolia (2019)*
Representation of the founder, shareholders and managers of Magnolia on the LBO sponsored by private equity house Qualium Investissement.

Catella (2019)*
Representation of Catella on the creation of Catella Hospitality Europe.

*Transactions worked on prior to joining White & Case

Speaking Engagements

Regularly speaks at industry events, including at the 2022 ARFA conference on ESG in M&A, the 2019 Paris Fintech forum on Tech M&A, the 2018 Sino-European Entrepreneurs Summit in Paris on a panel about the integration of the regional strengths of China, Europe and Africa and at the 2017 Africa Investments Forum & Awards about M&A, investments and private equity in Francophone Africa.

Publications

"M&A market: 2023 review and outlook for 2024" (Fusions & Acquisitions Magazine, January 2024)

"Between the resurgence of pan-Atlantic M&A deals and vigilance" (Le Magazine des Affaires, June 2023)

"France's M&A activity remains steadfast" (M&A Explorer, February 2023)

"Review of the year and 2023's outlook" (Fusions & Acquisitions Magazine, January 2023)

"Takeaways from recent transactions and factors of success in the next de-SPACings" (Fusions & Acquisitions Magazine, June 2022)

"Corporates and challenges to structure investments by PE funds in a subsidiary" (L'Agefi, June 2022)

"M&A market: what to expect in 2022" (Fusions & Acquisitions Magazine, January 2022)

"Surging M&A Megadeals Top Records in Q2 (Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, August 2021)

"French M&A displays optimism" (M&A Explorer, June 2021)

"Brokerage: management package in LBO and PE transactions" (L'Argus de l'assurance, December 2021)

"Public to Private – 2020 review and outlook for 2021" (M&A Review, February 2021)