GWL

Managing partners : Mickäel Lévi and Eric Gaftarnik

Number of partners : 5

Number of lawyers : 10

Created in 2007, GWL is an independent law firm (10 lawyers and 5 partners) focused on business law. GWL offers rare skills on the market for investment funds and companies, with double expertise in transaction and litigation. The team dedicates its practice to advisory work in business law, private equity and M&A as well as litigation, arbitration and insolvency proceedings.

Private Equity

The firm's Private Equity/M&A team, led by Mickaël Lévi, is recognized for its unique positioning in the market, combining transactional and litigation skills. With more than 70 transactions completed in less than two years, the team boasts a high level of expertise and a tightly-knit, highly responsive team.

We are particularly involved in :

• Leveraged buyouts (LBOs, MBOs, OBOs, etc.) for a number of major funds and companies;
• Venture capital and expansion capital transactions for funds and companies;
• Support for management teams in private equity transactions;
• Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), mainly involving small and medium-sized companies or individuals.

At various stages of the transactions, including :

• Structuring investments (LBOs, MBOs, OBOs, LBIs, venture capital, development capital, real estate LBOs, etc.);
• Negotiation and drafting of management package;
• Advice on full transactional process, from contractual negotiation to post-acquisition operations

By choosing to assist on behalf of the various Private Equity/M&A players, be they funds, target companies or management teams, in both the acquisition and exit processes, GWL has developed a highly specialized analytical capability in a wide variety of fields.

GWL recently assisted Andera Partners in its sponsorless deal with Sanso Investment Solutions and Longchamp AM, the founders of Yuri&Neil in their acquisition of a minority stake in EMZ, Groupe Rayne in its financing by Tikehau Capital, and Ardian and Generis Capital in Azerion's acquisition of Hawk.

Litigation and Arbitration

With lawyers having 20 to 30 years of experience and hundreds of cases pleaded before judicial, administrative and arbitration courts, the litigation team led by Eric Gaftarnik offers a high level of legal services.

It regularly takes part in sensitive disputes with significant economic and societal stakes.

Its traditional activities are carried out at the service of French and foreign clients mainly from the transportation sector, the automotive industry, distribution and retail, banking, insurance and brokerage, mutual insurance and the social economy, or the circular economy.

In symbiosis with the PE/M&A team, the litigation team also uses its skills to serve funds and companies involved in the operations carried out by GWL, both in the anticipation of litigation and in the resolution of conflicts.

Insolvency Proceedings

GWL assists and represents clients from the early stages of difficulties in their negotiations with their creditors in the context, in particular, of ad hoc mandates or conciliation procedures.

The team advises companies in difficulty for the preparation and follow-up of safeguard, reorganization or judicial liquidation procedures as well as their managers in the context of sanction procedures. Partners of GWL also support buyers in the acquisition of industrial or commercial funds or companies in the context of insolvency proceedings (receivership or winding up).

GWL rencently successfully assisted and advised on the continuation plan of Café Coton, in the context of preliminary insolvency proceedings.

France

Paris

30 place de la Madeleine, 75008 Paris, France

gwl-avocats.com

+33 1 53 30 90 80

[email protected]