Arnaud Coibion

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:

• a Belgian energy company on its strategic reorganisation aimed at ring-fencing its regulated activities in Belgium

• a BEL20 listed company on its defence against a hostile takeover bid and on its eventual recommended takeover by a multinational pharma group 

• a private equity house on its acquisition of a leading perimeter security systems and security services provider
• a Belgian multinational chemical company on the financing (involving a combination of rights issue, issuance of bonds and hybrid instrument) of its merger with a U.S.-listed company
• on the Nasdaq IPO of a Euronext-listed Belgian biotech
• on the IPO of an international textile group on Euronext Brussels
• a multinational beer and beverage company on its merger with the world’s largest brewer
• two electricity transmission system operators on a joint venture relating to the construction and operation of an offshore HVDC interconnector
• a consortium of two natural gas transmission system operators on the acquisition of a Swedish owner and operator of gas transmission grid
• a listed company on the two-step sale of its worldwide radiopharmaceutical division to a U.S. private equity firm
• several bank and insurance institutions on the reorganisation and disposal of their joint IT infrastructure platform vehicle to an IT group, combined with an IT infrastructure outsourcing agreement
• a global energy group on its business combination with a UK-listed international energy group, forming the world’s largest independent power producer
• a global steel manufacturer on the spin-off of its stainless steel business and on the listing of the spun-off company

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.

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.