7 July 2010 - Gide Loyrette Nouel Paris advises Econocom on the acquisition of the ECS group:

Gide Loyrette Nouel is advising Econocom, a European IT and telecommunications service provider, in exclusive negotiations that the group has entered into with Société Générale for the acquisition of the ECS group. Present in 17 countries and wholly owned by Société Générale, the ECS group specialises in IT infrastructure management. Econocom's offering values ECS shares to EUR 210 million (including the 2009 dividend due to the vendor). Upon completion of the acquisition, Société Générale will hold a 9% stake in Econocom.

The negotiations also concern the setting up of a multi-year partnership agreement between Société Générale and the future Econocom/ECS group relating to the contribution of business by Société Générale's networks and the refinancing of leasing activity by Société Générale Equipment Finance. The transaction will be submitted for approval to the competition authorities.

Legal counsel to Econocom:
Gide Loyrette Nouel A.A.R.P.I. (Nadège Nguyen, partner, and Cécile Davanne-Mortreux for acquisition matters, Yann Utzschneider and Dimitri Dimitrov for competition law matters).