Cleary Gottlieb Counsel in French “Club des Trente” Award-Winning Transactions

May 19, 2010

For the third time in the past four years, Cleary Gottlieb acted as counsel in the transaction that won the prestigious “Grand Prix” from the Club des Trente, a French organization whose members include senior executives and former senior executives of the largest French companies. The 2009 Grand Prix was awarded to BNP Paribas’ acquisition of Fortis Bank, a transaction in which Cleary Gottlieb represented BNP Paribas.

Cleary Gottlieb also acted as counsel in the transactions that won the Grand Prix for 2006 (Mittal Steel’s acquisition of Arcelor) and 2007 (Lafarge’s acquisition of Orascom). In both cases, Cleary Gottlieb was counsel to the acquiror.

The 2009 award was presented at a ceremony held on May 19, 2010. Six transactions were nominated for the Grand Prix, including four on which Cleary Gottlieb acted as counsel:

  • the acquisition of Fortis Bank by BNP Paribas (Grand Prix for the Best Financial Transaction 2009),
  • the acquisition of Razorfish by Publicis (Award for the Best Merger & Acquisition Transaction),
  • the refinancing transactions of Rexel (Award for the Best Financing Transaction),
  • the capital markets refinancing transactions of ArcelorMittal.