Magenta Société d'Avocats

Managing Partners: Sylvain Justier, Vincent Jaunet, Gaël Hichri

• Number of partners: 3
• Number of counsels: 1
• Number of lawyers: 13

Languages: French, English 

Firm Overview

Established in December 2008, Magenta is a law firm dedicated to competition law, public law and regulatory: telecoms, new technologies, energy, transportation (air, rail, road) and healthcare.

Magenta gathers highly skilled lawyers formerly with international and national top tier law firms and makes their expertise available to its clients with dynamism and under flexible conditions.

Main Areas of Practice

European & national Competition law: 

Competition is at the very heart of Magenta’s positioning with a team of nine lawyers all specialised in competition law and experienced in handling complex antitrust, merger control and private enforcement cases for major national and international clients.

Recent Cases: 

■ Successful assistance of Altice for an alleged violation of merger commitments (cf. press release of the FCA dated September 6, 2019)

■ Antitrust proceedings in the white goods sector (decision n°18-D-24)

■ Antitrust proceedings in the telecom sector (decision n°15-D-01)

■ Successful assistance of Wana against Maroc Telecom in Morocco in the first antitrust case in this country (€310M fine for abuse of dominance)

■ Several ongoing cases (telecom, retail sector, etc.)

■ Several merger filings for private equity funds or industrial companies (among them, decisions 18-DCC-136 or 19-DCC-168)

■ Recent private enforcement cases in the telecommunication, pharmaceutical or freight railway sector following French antitrust decisions (claims amounting from €2 million to €70 million)

Distribution & Commercial: 

Assisting major clients in distribution and consumer law, either by drafting or negotiating their agreements, by helping them in the definition of their distribution network and by representing them in their relationship with administrative and judicial bodies.

Recent Assignments: 

■ Drafting and negotiating annual agreements subject to the provisions of article L. 441-3 of the French commercial code for several clients (food, packaging, pharmaceutical and cosmetics sectors, food safety and facility cleaning industry, etc.)

■ Drafting general terms and conditions (BtoB and BtoC) and distribution agreements in various sectors (telecom, packaging, pharmaceutical and cosmetics sectors)

■ Legal assessment of advertising campaigns (especially comparative advertising)

■ Prelitigation cases, settlement proceedings with DIRECCTE and public prosecutors for infringements of consumer law and commercial law(cases regarding alleged breach of payment terms regulation, etc.), litigation actions before commercial courts (unfair competition, sudden breach of commercial relationships, significant imbalance, disputes regarding the validity of advertisings, etc.)

Public Law: 

Given the key role played by the State and public bodies in the French and European economies be it as a shareholder, contracting party or regulatory authority, public and administrative law is a crucial branch of law in France. Magenta has a comprehensive public and administrative practice. It advises clients on all matters relating to administrative and public contracts, regulatory framework applicable to doing business in regulated sectors, state aid, environmental law, urban planning law, foreign investments, governance issues in state-controlled companies, pre-contentious and contentious administrative procedures before domestic and European courts, regulatory authorities and/or arbitration tribunals.

Recent Examples of Transactions: 

■ Advising a major thermal spa company, in the context of several bidding procedures for the award of concessions to operate thermal spa facilities

■ Advising a major airline company on State aid related issues

■ Advising operators and financial institutions on the development, acquisition or financing of solar plants and wind farms (both onshore and offshore)

■ Successfully advising the Paris Regional Transport Authority (STIF) in the context of dispute proceedings relating to passenger transportation in the Paris region before the administrative court of Paris

■ Advising a major shipping company in the context of litigations relating to tendering procedures launched by the French State (Ministry of Defence)

Telecommunications & New Technologies: 

The practice, led by Sylvain Justier and Vincent Jaunet, focuses on telecom operators in France and abroad (Morocco, French Polynesia, etc.). Its telecom expertise, when aligned with its competition experience, allows it to balance, the pros and cons of bringing a case before the regulator versus introducing a claim before the French Competition Authority. A key and differentiating element of Magenta’s strategy.

Recent Cases: 

■ Several disputes proceedings before the French regulator (ARCEP) for fixed and mobile operators

■ Assisting an operator in the course of a sanction proceedings before ARCEP

■ Assisting an operator specialised in the development and operation of broadband network in the course of its negotiations of public service delegation agreements with the French public authorities (value of the agreements: more than €250 million)

■ Negotiation various access and interconnection agreements between operators (FTTH, MVNO, IRU, consortium for submarine cables, etc.)

Energy: 

The energy practice, led by Vincent Jaunet, is a core activity, strongly focused on alternative operators and electro-intensive consumers. The team’s expertise covers all the legal issues an operator can face: granting of building permits or operating licence, dispute settlement between operators, negotiation of all kind of contracts – purchase or supply contracts, grid connection agreement – lobbying the administrative and ministerial bodies). Magenta also assists major energy consumers in the negotiation of their contracts with the suppliers and/or TSO or in the dispute which may arise from these contractual relationships.

Recent Assignments: 

■ Assisting a major local power supply company (entreprise locale de distribution) in the context of its merger with a local public body (régie locale de distribution)

■ Assisting a TSO in relation to a dispute relating to the grid connection of a combined cycle power station

■ Assisting a major alternative electricity supplier in relation to proposed changes in the regulatory framework and, in particular, in the features of the ARENH mechanism (accès réguléà l’électricité nucléaire historique)

■ Assistance at a prelitigation stage of an industrial client in its dispute against the French electricity TSO (value of the claim: around €20 million)

Transport: 

Magenta has unrivalled experience and knowledge of the railway sector and assists both railway undertakings and organising authorities for transport on regulatory and competition issues. Magenta also regularly advises clients in the air transport and maritime sectors as well as in the car sharing business.

Recent Assignments: 

■ Successful assistance before the Conseil d’Etat of a major airline company in challenging the tariffs for services rendered applied by the Nice Côte d’Azur Airport

■ Challenging the 2019 tariffs for accessing the French railway network

■ Claims for indemnification for several railway undertakings against the network manager

■ Dispute settlement before the French railway regulatory body (ART) regarding the tariffs to access to train stations (decisions n°2015-002, 2015-017, 2015-028 and 2015-030)

■ Dispute settlement before ART regarding the allocation of train paths (decisions n°2013-016 to 2013-019)

Practice Areas and Offices

• Arbitration / Litigation
• European & national Competition law
• Distribution & commercial law
• Consumer law
• Telecoms & new technologies law
• Transport law
• Energy law
• Pharmaceutical law / market access
• Public Economic Law
• State Aids
• Foreign investments
• Counselling / Contract negotiation