Valentin Autret

Mr. Autret regularly represents clients in all aspects of their disputes, particularly with regard to M&A-related disputes, commercial and corporate litigations, stock market and securities disputes, bankruptcy litigation, corporate restructurings, directors’ liability, state aids and white collar crime.

He has been heavily involved in numerous “bet-the-company” litigations in which the disputes have had high levels of commercial and financial risk and prominent media exposure.

Mr. Autret also represents his clients before French and EU courts as well as in arbitration.

He works closely with the firm’s M&A team to support strategic operations or to resolve sensitive conflict situations, as well as with the cross-border investigations practice on criminal law, compliance, anti-corruption, international sanctions and regulation of financial institutions matters. Mr. Autret was recognized in The Best Lawyers in France and has repeatedly been named a Next Generation Partner by The Legal 500 EMEA.

Mr. Autret’s experience includes advising and representing:

• telecom companies in cross-border M&A-related disputes
• financial institutions in cross-border investigations and settlements with different national enforcement authorities
• a multinational courier delivery services company in M&A-related and state aid disputes
• a state-owned defeasance structure in a long-running litigation that covered a wide spectrum of disputes (commercial courts, arbitration, criminal proceedings, petition for review against an arbitral award, bankruptcy litigation and international recovering proceedings, etc.)
• a leading worldwide energy company in a dispute with its joint venture partner that was eventually settled through an industrial M&A deal and a public M&A transaction
• a leading press distributor in its reorganization (corporate, financial and social restructuring) and related investigations and disputes (regulatory issues, commercial disputes and state aid investigations, etc.)
• directors and officers in civil and criminal matters related to accounting, financial communication, bankruptcy law and other aspects
• a bank in disputes with clients and authorities following a leak of sensitive data
• a multinational pharmaceutical company in an M&A-related dispute
• companies, shareholders and investment banks in proxy and hostile takeover battles, as well as in stock markets and securities disputes