Philippe Métais

Litigation:

Post-acquisition dispute
Philippe assisted a French company in arbitration proceedings relating to a post-acquisition dispute, and the termination of a supply agreement.

Trademark Infringement
Philippe assisted a French company in summary proceedings of first instance before a Paris court, and in the ongoing appeal for trademark infringement, and regarding the merits for unfair competition, before a Paris commercial court.

Real Estate Company
Philippe successfully represented a real estate company which owns numerous shopping centers, in a dispute with a lessee related to its past and future subscriptions to the storekeepers' association. This dispute followed a Supreme Court decision confirming the nullity of the lessee's membership of the storekeepers' association, on the grounds of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Major French Bank
Philippe assisted a major French bank in connection with investigations by the American and French regulatory authorities.

Helvet Immo case, 2013 - ongoing
Philippe is assisting a major French bank faced with criminal and civil charges of commercial malpractice (duty of information, duty to warn, duty of advice, unfair term, legality of escalator clause) in the context of a class action, brought by consumer associations and hundreds of individuals, relating to a portfolio of real estate loans which were granted to individuals in a foreign currency. Proceedings are under criminal investigations and pending before the civil and commercial courts. As well as legal advice on regulatory issues connected with the charges.

Restructuring and insolvency:

Leading supplier of manufacturing solutions
Philippe advised the company regarding its financial restructuring. This was a first-of-its-kind restructuring transaction in France, made by converting a high yield bond debt into capital shares, so that the bondholders became the majority shareholders of the group. Its particular complexity was due to the number of parties involved and the legal and tax constraints linked to the international nature of the group.

Majority shareholder of an energy company
Philippe assisted the majority shareholder of a listed company regarding the restructuring of an energy supplier.

Potential investor in maritime transportation
Philippe assisted a potential investor in the negotiation of a conciliation agreement with a company involved in maritime transportation, as well as with its creditors.

Holding company in financial difficulty
Philippe assisted a holding company that had encountered financial difficulties, and helped to negotiate extensions of the length of its bank loans. He also advised the company as to whether to enter into conciliation or safeguard, as well as combining this procedure with a US Chapter 11 procedure.

French producer of construction materials
Philippe helped a French manufacturer of construction materials to renegotiate its debt, and to restructure its industrial sites pursuant to a French amicable pre-insolvency procedure (mandat ad hoc).