Pascal Bine

Mr. Bine has decades of experience advising corporations, private equity investors and financial institutions on M&A-related matters in a full range of industries around the world.

Mr. Bine’s experience in French public M&A includes the representation of issuers, bidders, target companies, financial sponsors and controlling shareholders in public tender offers, including hostile or unsolicited transactions, mergers, cross-border business combinations, block trades, private placements, reorganizations of shareholding structures, minority buyouts and take-private transactions.

As part of his cross-border M&A practice, Mr. Bine has acquired significant experience navigating foreign investment reviews before French authorities. His experience in this area covers both inbound M&A transactions in France and multijurisdictional M&A deals where the foreign buyer is required to obtain similar authorizations from national authorities or agencies, including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Mr. Bine has unique experience negotiating mitigation agreements with French foreign investment authorities across a full range of industries, including defense, aeronautics, public security, telecommunications, transportation, public infrastructure, health care, IT services and technology.

In the financial sector, Mr. Bine advises corporate borrowers, private equity investors and financial institutions on corporate and acquisition bank financings, both in a domestic and cross-border context. He also has been involved in several securitization and other asset-based financing transactions on the sponsor’s side. His practice also extends to capital markets transactions, representing French corporate issuers in IPOs, rights issues, and other equity and debt securities offerings.

In addition to his transactional practice, Mr. Bine regularly advises French public companies, senior management, boards of directors and board committees on a wide range of corporate governance matters, including senior executive compensation, financial communication, relationships with institutional investors, shareholders’ meetings, CEO succession and strategic situations.

Mr. Bine’s experience in cross-border M&A includes the representation of:

• Acofi and its founding directors in connection with its merger with Sienna Investment Managers, a subsidiary of Belgian holding company Groupe Bruxelles Lambert;
• Axian Group, as part of a consortium, in the acquisition of Tigo Tanzania and Zanzibar Telecom Limited from Millicom International Cellular S.A.; 
• TriRX Pharmaceuticals Services LLC on its acquisition of the French manufacturing and packaging operations of Merck’s animal health business;
• Renault in the proposed (but withdrawn) €32.6 billion 50/50 merger with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles;
• the Beaufour family’s trust in connection with the reorganization of the controlling shareholding structure of Ipsen, a French publicly listed pharmaceutical company;
• Waypoint GP Limited, an investment fund created by the Bertarelli family, in its €730 million take-private acquisition of Stallergenes Greer plc;
• Silver Lake Partners in its €275 million term loan B and revolving credit facilities in connection with its acquisition of Groupe Meilleurtaux, a leading French online and mobile financial services provider. 
• SCOR in setting up contingent capital equity lines in 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019;
• L’Occitane International on the financing of its acquisition of the Elemis Group;
• E.I. du Pont de Nemours in the sale of its global alginate business to Josef Rettenmaier Holding Europa GmbH;
• StandardAero Inc., a portfolio company of Veritas Capital, in its acquisition of Vector Aerospace from Airbus;
• Deluxe Inc. in the purchase of Technicolor’s French digital cinema business and the consolidation of their joint venture for the provision of digital cinema services;
• Axian Group and NJJ Capital on the financing and subsequent refinancing of their acquisition of telecom operator Tigo Senegal from Millicom International Cellular;
• IDEX Corporation in its sale of Faure Herman to Le Garrec et Cie and BNP Paribas Development;
• Avara Pharmaceutical Services in its acquisition of AstraZeneca’s French manufacturing and distribution operations;
• Hexcel Corporation on a bank financing for the construction of a French industrial site;
• Hexcel Corporation in its acquisition of Structil from Safran;
• Bain Capital and Ardian in connection with their participation as consortium bidders to the auction sale process of Morpho;
• SCOR in its subordinated debt offerings between 2006 and 2016 and its €233 million equity offering;
• Axian Group on the financing of its acquisition of the Indian Ocean mobile telecom business of Outremer Telecom from Altice;
• DocuSign Inc., in its acquisition of the Trusted Documents and Transactions business of Keynectis;
• Nokia Corporation in its combination, through a €15.6 billion public exchange offer, with Alcatel-Lucent;
• EMC Corporation in its joint acquisition with its affiliate VMware Inc. of a stake in Atos S.E.;
• JFC Industries and management in the sale of Duo Industries to Werner;
• Imerys in its €525 million acquisition of S&B Minerals Group;
• China Huaxin Post and Telecommunications Economy Development Center in its US$362 million acquisition of the Enterprise business of Alcatel Lucent;
• SCOR in its acquisition of a controlling stake in MRM, a French REIT;
• Wendel in its €520 million institutional private placement of Legrand shares;
• Match.com and Meetic in the acquisition of FriendScout 24 GmbH and Massive Media N.V.;
• Renault in its US$2 billion and US$4.2 billion institutional private placements of Series A and Series B shares of Volvo AB;
• J.C. Flowers & Co in its LBO acquisition of French loan insurance broker Compagnie Européenne de Prévoyance (CEP);
• Mayroy in its €139 million and €173 million institutional private placements of Ipsen shares;
• Chiquita Brands International Inc., in the creation of a joint venture with multinational food products company Danone;
• LyondellBasell, in connection with a European receivables securitization program;
• IAC/InterActiveCorp in its US$113 million sale of Match.com to Meetic and its subsequent €345 million tender offer on Meetic and buyout of Meetic’s minority shareholders;
• Imerys in its €251 million right issue;
• Société Générale in its defense against a threat of a hostile takeover bid;
• J.P. Morgan and BNP Paribas as financial advisors to Suez in its €70 billion merger with Gaz de France;
• Arcelor in its defense against a US$22.8 billion hostile bid from Mittal Steel, its proposed merger with SeverStal and its subsequent US$33.8 billion friendly merger with Mittal Steel;
• Deutsche Bank AG, as financial advisor to Axalto in its public exchange offer on Gemplus International;
• Capgemini in its €507 million equity offering;
• SCOR in its €183.1 million acquisition of a minority stake in IRP Holdings Ltd. from Highfields Capital;
• The Stanley Works in its €410 million acquisition of Facom;
• Yahoo! Inc., in its €475 million acquisition of Kelkoo;
• Business Objects in its US$1.2 billion acquisition of Crystal Decisions;
• Air France on its €618 million Enhanced Equipment Trust Certificate (EETC)-type aircraft securitization financing;
• Westbrook Partners LLC in its US$1.2 billion acquisition of residential real estate assets in Paris from Gecina and Simco;
• Genuity Inc., on its public exchange offer on Integra; and
• Renault in the setting up of RNPO, a single purchasing structure for Renault and Nissan and the Alliance’s first corporate joint venture.

Mr. Bine was named in The Best Lawyers in France 2021 for his capital markets work, has been recognized by IFLR1000, and won the 2012 International Law Office Award for exceptional client service by a capital markets practitioner in France.