Antoine Lelong is a partner in Gide Loyrette Nouel's Mergers & Acquisitions / Corporate Department. He advises on a wide range of M&A transactions, including acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, equity investments, issues of equity securities and corporate reorganizations (mergers, spin offs, contributions in kind...), both in France and abroad.

He also regularly advises on company law and corporate governance issues.

Antoine has acted on behalf of a diversified clientele, including BPCE, Casino, BNP Paribas Personal Finance, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, Hachette, Storengy (an Engie group subsidiary), the global leader in logistics real estate GLP, My Money Bank (formerly GE Money Bank), the Canadian travel and tourism group Transat A.T., Credit Suisse, the founders and financial shareholders of Solairedirect, the Belgium insurer Federale Assurance, Hammerson, Conforama, Unibail-Rodamco, Safran, Steinhoff, Areva, SNCF, Total, Olympus and Vivendi.

He has developed expertise in M&A in the banking, financial and retail sectors, and has also acquired a good understanding of the specificities of M&A transactions in the real estate, energy and infrastructure sectors.

Antoine Lelong is a graduate of HEC Paris (1995). He is a member of the Legal Committee of the French national association of joint-stock companies (ANSA). He is director and corporate secretary of Gide Pro Bono endowment fund (fonds de dotation).

A lawyer recommended in Mergers and Acquisitions (Legal 500 EMEA) and Corporate Law (Best Lawyers in France), he is described as "a very diligent and good negotiator" (Legal 500 EMEA).

He has advised, notably:

• a French family office having developed a property trading business in joint venture with its managers, on the managers’ exit and buy-out of their minority interests in the joint venture (2022);
• the main shareholder of Perspecteev, a French fintech specialised in payment services, in the context of BPCE's investment and the reinvestment of the managers in the company's BtoB activity (Bridge), after the spin-off of its BtoC activity (Bankin') and the purchase of its historical shareholders (2022);
• the French banking group BPCE on the sale of Banque Tuniso-Koweïtienne (BTK) to EÉtablissement MT Elloumi, a Tunisian family-owned industrial group (2021);
• Conforama Holding, a subsidiary of the global retail group Steinhoff International, in connection with the sale of Conforama France to Mobilux (2020-2021);
• a French banking institution specialized in payment, financing and insurance solutions for consumers in connection with its contemplated acquisition of an independent consumer credit player in Belgium and Luxembourg (2020);
• GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, on the formation and development of a 80:20 joint venture with Equinix, the global leader in interconnection services and data centers (2019-2020);
• the sellers on the sale, in the frame of a share deal, of the real estate property located at 71-73 avenue des Champs-Elysées in Paris to BMO Real Estate Partners (2020);
• My Money Bank, a French independent credit institution, on its merger with My Partner Bank, formerly Banque Espirito Santo et de la Vénétie (BESV) (2020);
• BPCE on the sale of its African banking subsidiaries to the Moroccan group Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP) (2018-2019);
• the French retail group Casino on its equity investment in Lyf, a mobile payment solution provider jointly owned by BNP Paribas and Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale (2019);
• Casino on the acquisition of an equity stake in a leading European mobile application publisher for money management (2018);
• BPCE on the sale of its Mauritius banking subsidiary, Banque des Mascareignes Ltée, to BCP (2018);
• minority shareholders on the sale by the family group Mimran of its flour milling business in West Africa to the US food group Seaboard Corporation (2018);
• the French publisher Hachette on a major acquisition project (2018);
• the Engie group on the corporate reorganization of its gas storage division Storengy (2018);
• Federale Assurance, a Belgium insurance company, on its investment in convertible bonds in a French property developer (2017);
• GLP, the global leader of logistics real estate, on the French law aspects of its acquisition of Gazeley (2017);
• GLP on the French law aspects of its bid for Logicor (2017);
• General Electric on the capital restructuring of a French mortgage credit institution, GE SCF, in the context of the disposal of GE Money Bank to Cerberus, an investment fund (2017);
• the Canadian travel and tourism group Transat A.T. on the sale to TUI of its tour operating businesses in France and Greece (2016);
• Casino on the acquisition of 26 DIA stores from the Carrefour retail group (2016);
• a Spanish banking institution on its plan to reorganize its French activities by way of partial demerger (2016);
• Solairedirect, a leading French-based solar park designer and promoter, its founders and financial investors on its sale to Engie (2015);
• Credit Suisse on the merger of its French private banking subsidiary with and into its Luxembourg parent company (2015);
• Casino on its proposed acquisition of DIA France (2014);
• Hammerson on the joint acquisition with Allianz Real Estate of the Nicetoile shopping centre (2014);
• the French retailer Conforama on various strategic and litigation matters (2011-2014);
• Meridiam Infrastructure on its purchase offer for Vinci Park and the acquisition of several infrastructure project companies from Eiffage (2013-2014);
• Casino on an issue by its subsidiary Monoprix of bonds redeemable in shares reserved to a financial investor (2013);
• Casino on the acquisition from Galeries Lafayette of exclusive control over Monoprix, a major French retail chain (2013);
• Unibail-Rodamco on various acquisition or joint venture projects in Europe (2011-2013);
• Safran on a litigation with its minority partner in a joint venture in the defence sector (2001-2011);
• the South-African retail group Steinhoff International on the acquisition of Conforama (2011);
• the French e-commerce leader PriceMinister and its shareholders on its sale to the Japanese group Rakuten (2010);
• one of the main shareholders of Sperian Protection, a leading manufacturer of personal protective equipment, on Honeywell's tender offer for this company (2010);
• Areva on the sale of its transmission and distribution (T&D) business to a consortium formed of Schneider and Alstom (2010);
• the French national railways, SNCF, on the creation and takeover of Eurostar International Limited (2010);
• Total Raffinage Marketing on the acquisition of 37 Shell service stations (2009);
• Japan's Olympus Corporation on the French aspects of the sale of its diagnostic systems business to the US group Beckman Coulter (2009);
• The Blackstone Group, on the French law aspects of its equity investment in the Chinese chemicals group China National Bluestar (Group) Corporation (2008);
• the French digital marketing and advertisement agency Business Interactif and its founders in connection with its sale to Publicis Groupe (2007);
• Vivendi and Groupe Canal+, in connection with the acquisition of the satellite pay-television company TPS and the formation of Canal+ France, the French market leader in this sector (2007);
• the seller, a family group, on the sale of the "Chambord" liqueur to the US spirits group Brown-Forman (2006);
• Groupe Canal+ and France Telecom, on the sale of their cable businesses to Cinven and Altice (2005).