Julien Zika

In recognition of his work in mergers and acquisitions, Mr. Zika was honored by The Legal 500 EMEA in 2025.

Mr. Zika’s recent experience includes advising:

• Renault, a French multinational automobile manufacturer, in connection with:
  • its agreements with Nissan regarding the rebalanced cross-shareholding between the two companies (including the transfer by Renault of 28.4% of Nissan shares into a French trust), the reinforcement of the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance’s governance and the investment agreement of Nissan, as strategic investor, in Ampere
  • its proposed (but withdrawn) €32.6 billion 50/50 merger transaction with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
  • additional matters relating to the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance
• Air France-KLM in connection with corporate and governance matters relating to the €4 billion recapitalization measures approved by the European Commission in April 2021
• LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.E. in connection with its US$16.2 billion acquisition of Tiffany & Co.
• Dassault Systèmes in its US$5.8 billion acquisition of Medidata Solutions, Inc.
• SCOR SE, which is the fifth-largest reinsurance group worldwide and is listed on both Euronext Paris and the SIX Swiss Exchange:
  • in the acquisition of 5.01% of its own shares from Covéa for €252 million upon the partial exercise of the call option granted by Covéa in 2021, and the subsequent sale of these shares to BNP Paribas Cardif
  • in its successful defense against an €8.3 billion unsolicited takeover proposal from Covéa, a French mutual insurance group and the largest shareholder of SCOR SE
  • in connection with its defense against claims made by the activist fund CIAM 
• Stryker Corporation, one of the world’s leading medical technology companies, in connection with its €183 million acquisition of Vexim, a listed company specialized in the development and sale of vertebral compression fracture solutions, through the acquisition of a controlling stake from its main shareholders (Truffle Capital, Bpifrance Participations and Kreaxi) and certain managers, followed by a cash tender offer, and a subsequent public buyout offer followed by a squeeze-out
• Westfield Corporation, an international retail property group, in connection with its combination with — through a US$24.7 billion acquisition — Unibail-Rodamco SE, Europe’s largest listed commercial property company, through Australian law schemes of arrangement and a stapling of the shares of Unibail-Rodamco with the shares of a Dutch subsidiary. Such a stapled security structure, including the shares of an already-listed French company, was a first under French law
• Nokia in its:
  • agreement with the French State regarding the sale of 80% of Alcatel Submarine Networks for an enterprise value of €350 million
  • combination with Alcatel-Lucent, the leading IP networking, ultra-broadband access and cloud applications specialist, through a €15.6 billion public exchange offer in France and the U.S., and a subsequent public buyout offer followed by a squeeze-out of the remaining securities. This was the first public exchange offer in France and in the U.S. in a decade, and the largest Finnish M&A transaction ever
• Cheetah Mobile Inc., an internet and mobile security software company, in its US$58 million acquisition of MobPartner SA, a mobile advertising network
• Match.com, L.L.C., an online dating service company, in its US$39 million acquisition of a 6.7% stake in Meetic S.A., and its US$72 million cash tender offer for all of the remaining outstanding shares of Meetic