Deals | France / China – M&A

Gide Loyrette Nouel (GLN) has advised Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (“Crédit Agricole CIB”) in connection with the sale of brokerage CLSA to CITIC Securities International Company Limited (“CITICS International”), part of leading Chinese investment bank CITIC Securities Company Limited (“CITICS”).

The parties have announced that the acquisition of CLSA by CITICS will occur in two phases:

• The first phase involved the sale by Crédit Agricole CIB of 19.9 % of CLSA’s capital to CITICS International for USD 310,320,000 on 20 July 2012.

• As for the second phase, CITICS International has granted Crédit Agricole CIB a put option to sell the remaining 80.1% interest in CLSA to CITICS International for USD 941,680.000, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals.

These landmark agreements represent the culmination of more than 2 years of negotiation between Credit Agricole CIB and CITICS.

The GLN team advising Crédit Agricole CIB was led by partner Guillaume Rougier-Brierre, with assistance from Arnaud Lunel (Paris), as well as Rebecca Silli (Hong Kong) and Thomas Urlacher (Beijing). J.P. Morgan (Joël Chapellier, Jean-François Trecco) advised Crédit Agricole CIB on financial aspects.

The GLN team led by Guillaume Rougier-Brierre is also advising on the proposed merger of Crédit Agricole Cheuvreux and Kepler Capital Markets, again in conjunction with J.P. Morgan.

CITICS was advised by Kirkland & Ellis (Nick Norris, Steven Tran, Joey Chau, Derek Poon) and by Rothschild.