August & Debouzy advised France Economie Régions on its bid to take over the newspaper La Tribune.

For this bid, France Economie Régions’ majority shareholder, the Hima Group, a leader in the field of economic news in south-west France and founded and managed by Mr. Jean-Christophe Tortora, teamed up with the Hi-media Group, chaired by its founder, Mr. Cyril Zimmermann.

On January 17, 2012, the Cour de cassation handed down a ruling that definitively ends over 7 years of litigation between the French Competition Authority and France Télécom and SFR regarding alleged practices in the market for business landline calls to mobiles.  The ruling confirms the Paris Court of Appeal’s power to enjoin the Competition Authority to publish a statement on its website and in the press.

August & Debouzy is pleased to announce the nomination of Julien Aucomte as a partner

Julien Aucomte, aged 37, arrived at the firm in January 2007 as an associate and was nominated of counsel in 2009. He acts for both listed and unlisted companies on mergers and acquisitions and advises French and foreign investment funds with their private equity transactions. He also regularly assists with the transactional work handled by August & Debouzy’s Casablanca office.

The Belgian firm Procotex, a major player in the linen industry, has recently acquired Apply Carbon, a French company which specialises in recycling textiles.
With this acquisition, Procotex gains a base in France, after its successful arrival in Lithuania (2002), allowing it to expand its business in this sector. The founder of Apply Carbon, which developed carbon fibre cutting and milling processes, will assist Procotex with its takeover of the company to ensure a smooth and sustainable transfer of its know-how.

Procotex was advised by August & Debouzy:

On January 1, 2012, the Nouvelles Frontières Group will merge with Marmara, a French leader in the holiday villages and travel industry, and with First Choice, the British online travel agency.
This merger will create the French arm of the TUI Travel Group, parent of the Nouvelles Frontières Group, which is expected to become the leading French tour operator.

August & Debouzy acted for the “Al-Ajial” Kuwaiti investment fund in connection with the signature of a partnership agreement between Morocco, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait to set up the Moroccan Authority for Tourism Investment.

This agreement is part of the “Vision 2020” project which aims to double the size of the tourism sector to place the Kingdom of Morocco among the world’s top 20 tourist destinations.

In its decision of November 29, 2011, the Paris Civil Court validated the differences between job categories as provided in the “syntec” collective bargaining agreement for technical engineering firms.

In this case, Marie-Hélène Bensadoun, partner in August & Debouzy’s Labour and Employment Group, advised the Syntec and CICF Federations.

August & Debouzy acted for Laboratoires Pierre Fabre in connection with a financing of €100 million granted by the EIB

A number of August & Debouzy’s teams are advising the Klesch Group on its takeover of Arkema’s vinyl unit representing a turnover of just over one billion euros in 2010 and a workforce of over 2,600.

Arkema, a leader in the chemicals industry, last Wednesday announced its plan to sell its entire vinyl products division to the European Group Klesch specialising in long-term investments in manufacturing, aluminium, oil refining and industrial maritime transport.

AXA Private Equity is selling a 53% stake in the Skyrock radio station to Crédit Agricole, associated with Pierre Bellanger. At the same time, Orange and FSI will acquire a minority stake in Skyrock’s Web Division.