Nicolas Alfonsi
Biography
Overview
Nicolas Alfonsi is an associate in the EMEA private equity team of our Global Mergers & Acquisitions practice at White & Case.
Fluent in French and English, Nicolas is admitted to the bars of Paris and New York. His practice covers both complex domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, as well as private equity, bolt-on and venture capital matters, on behalf of multinational clients, such as investment funds, investment banks, entrepreneurs, industrials, managers, listed and non-listed companies, including in a stressed or distressed context.
Nicolas works on a variety of M&A matters. He was part of the White & Case teams representing Apollo and SVP Global in connection with corporate and other aspects of Vallourec’s restructuring, as well as Amber Capital in relation to its decision to sell its shares in Lagardère S.A. to Vivendi. Nicolas is also active in strategic M&A transactions, most recently the $1.8 billion sale by Liberty Global of UPC PL to the Iliad group, the acquisition by Piab of leading vacuum gripping solutions provider Joulin Cemma, and the representation of the Altitude Infra Group in several acquisitions. In 2021, he was seconded to the Head of Legal M&A at BNPP Personal Finance to assist on the renegotiation of a major joint-venture partnership with CAC 40 mobility provider Stellantis. Nicolas has furthermore worked on a number of landmark LBO large-cap transactions (e.g. the primary takeover by Ardian of Inovie*, alongside sovereign funds Mubadala and GIC and pension fund APG, and the takeover by Ardian of Cérelia from IK Investment Partners*). He additionally was part of the team advising HRtech Skello’s founders, XAnge and Aglaé Ventures in connection with Partech’s Series B investment.
Prior to joining White & Case, he was an associate in the M&A-Private Equity Group department of a high profile US law firm in Paris. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Nicolas was an editor at the Harvard Business Law Review and research assistant to Charles Fried, former United States Solicitor General.
Experience
Recent experience includes:
Vallourec SA (2022)
Representation of CAC 40 Vallourec S.A. on various high-level strategic and governance matters.
Piab (2022)
Representation of Piab Management AB and Piab USA Inc., part of industrial conglomerate Management AB, on their combined acquisition of Franco-American group Joulin Cemma, a global leader of vacuum gripping solutions, to become the world's leading automation company in the wood industry.
BNP Paribas Personal Finance (2021)
Seconded to the Head of Legal M&A to assist on the renegotiation of the strategic joint-venture partnership with mobility provider CAC 40 Stellantis, along with Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance and Santander Consumer Finance, making BNP PF Stellantis' exclusive partner for financing activities in the automotive sector in major geographic areas.
Altitude Infra Group (2021)
Representation of Altitude Group, France's leading independent fibre operator, on the acquisition of private equity fund Marguerite's stakes in 3 FTTH concessions and on the acquisition from Covage, a wholesale fibre operator in France, of 26 public and private fibre networks.
Amber Capital (2021)
Representation of Amber Capital on its decision to sell its shares in listed company Lagardère S.A. to CAC 40 listed company Vivendi S.A.
Liberty Global (2021-22)
Representation of Liberty Global, one of the world's leading converged video, broadband and mobile communications companies, on the signing of an agreement with Iliad for the sale of 100% of the share capital in Polish cable operator UPC Poland to Iliad's Polish mobile subsidiary Play for an enterprise value of $1.8 billion.
Founders, XAnge and Aglaé Ventures (2021)
Representation of top management, XAnge and Aglaé Ventures in connection with HRtech Skello's EUR 40 million Series B fundraising and Partech's related investment.
Apollo and SVPGlobal (2021)
Representation of Apollo and SVPGlobal on the implementation of the management package in the context of CAC 40 listed company Vallourec S.A.
Ardian (2021)*
Representation of Ardian in the primary LBO acquisition of Inovie, the leading independent medical diagnostic provider in France, alongside minority shareholders Mubadala, GIC and APG.
Ardian (2020)*
Representation of Ardian in the LBO acquisition of Cérélia, a leading transatlantic provider of innovative bakery solutions, from IK Investment Partners.
*Transactions worked on previous to joining White & Case
