Freshfields has bolstered its bench in Paris with the hire of a four-lawyer corporate and M&A team from French boutique Peltier Juvigny Marpeau & Associés.
The group is led by partner Benoit Marpeau and includes a counsel and two associates. Marpeau has joined the UK Magic Circle firm after a decade as a partner at Peltier and brings experience in complex M&A transaction and defensive work, particularly in the retail sector.
Recent work includes advising French retail group Casino on the €1.3bn sale of more than 300 hypermarkets and supermarkets to rivals Auchan and Intermarché as part of a larger restructuring plan.
He also advised French retail chain Monoprix on the sale of Sarenza to womenswear group Groupe Beaumanoir and Séché Environnement on the acquisition of Veolia’s industrial water treatment services business in France.
Freshfields said Marpeau’s practice advising major French corporates on strategic mandates aligned with its ambitions as a leading firm in the market.
“The French market is important for the firm, which has always supported an ambitious – and successful – strategy of development in Paris,” said Hervé Pisani, co-head of Freshfields’ global transactions team in Paris. “The arrival of Benoit Marpeau, an expert combining technical skills that are highly regarded by clients and their peers, with strong interpersonal skills, is part of a desire to root our growth strategy in the long term.”
Marpeau joins Freshfields as the firm’s 39th partner in Paris. Last year, the office hired antitrust partner Charlotte Colin-Dubuisson from Linklaters, which earlier this month hired an eight-lawyer restructuring team in Paris from leading French boutique Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier.
In 2023 Freshfields also hired disputes partner Ludovic Malgrain, who earlier led White & Case’s white-collar crime and regulatory practice in the French capital, and bankruptcy partner Guilhem Bremond from Paul Hastings.
Meanwhile, Marpeau and his team mark the second group exit from Peltier for a large international firm in the past month, Weil having hired partner Ning-Ly Seng in June alongside five more lawyers to head its Paris antitrust team.
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