Overview
Arnaud specialises in private and public M&A, joint ventures and corporate law, as well as IPOs and equity offerings. He advises (listed and non-listed) corporates, private equity firms and banks on complex domestic and cross-border deals in Europe, America and Asia. He has experience of working on deals that have high levels of public, political and market scrutiny.
Arnaud is global co-head of the firm’s Energy & Utilities Group and has in-depth knowledge of these sectors.
Arnaud spent two periods of secondment to the firm’s London office (2002 and 2008/2009).
Work highlights
Arnaud has advised on a wide range of major corporate transactions. These include advising:
- bpostgroup on its € 1.3bn acquisition of Staci from Ardian and other shareholders
- Indosuez Wealth Management (Crédit Agricole group) on its acquisition of a controlling stake in Banque Degroof Petercam followed by a voluntary public takeover bid on the remaining shares, for a total transaction value of €1.55 bn
- Solvay: spin-off of its specialty chemicals business resulting in two listed groups: Solvay and Syensqo
- Groupement Les Mousquetaires – Intermarché on its acquisition of supermarket group Mestdagh
- AKKA Technologies on its € 2bn business combination with the Adecco Group (including a mandatory takeover bid)
- Greiner AG on its acquisition of a reference shareholding in Recticel, followed by a non-solicited takeover bid
- ENGIE on the disposal of four coal-fired power plants in Germany and the Netherlands (including coal optimisation business) to Riverstone Holdings
- Elia, the Belgian electricity transmission system operator, on its strategic reorganisation aimed at ring-fencing its regulated activities in Belgium
- Ablynx on its defence against a hostile takeover bid and on its eventual EUR 3.9bn recommended takeover by Sanofi
- Solvay on the financing (involving a combination of rights issue, issuance of bonds and hybrid instrument) of its merger with Cytec Industries, a U.S.-listed company
- SABMiller on its GBP 79bn merger with AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer
Professional experience
Arnaud has written books, articles and papers on numerous subjects on company law and financial law. He is a lecturer on company law and M&A at the Louvain School of Management, the business school of the University of Louvain.
Education
Arnaud studied law at the University of Namur and the University of Louvain and holds a master’s in law from the University of Cambridge (Darwin College).
He speaks English, French and Dutch.
