The five lawyer team is headed up by HSF’s former head of its North Africa practice, partner Mehdi Haroun. Counsels Philippe Trosset and Ruxandra Lazar  join Mr Haroun with associates Nora Djeraba and Marion Morvan at King & Spalding's Paris office. Raphaële Bouniol, previously an associate from French law firm Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier, will also join the new firm. The moves create a King & Spalding energy team on the ground in France with strong corporate and public law expertise.

North Africa increasingly important

Kenneth Culotta, head of the firm’s global transactions practice, said that North Africa was an "increasingly important region in the international energy market and  a region where King & Spalding has been very active in recent years, with instructions in countries such as Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Libya."
He added: “As France, along with other EU countries, struggles to meet its need for energy resources and its ambitious climate goals, it also offers significant project opportunities. Mehdi and his team add even more strength to our practice in Europe and elsewhere. They have hit the ground running and are working closely with our Middle East, London and U.S. offices on several matters.”

Wide experience 

Haroun and the group have much experience in North Africa, including representing OMV on its US$866 million purchase of Pioneer Natural Resources in Tunisia, BHP Billiton, RWE Dea and BAT. They also represented Tullow on a first-of-its-kind gas-to-power project in Mauritania; DONG Energy in the first French offshore wind-farm project (1500MW); and Solar Euromed on the first French concentrated solar power (CSP) project. They also advised Solar Euromed and BAT on project development/acquisition in Sudan.
King & Spalding's global energy practice has more than 250 lawyers across a range of practice areas.