Latham & Watkins Advises Alcentra European Direct Lending on its Acquisition of the BVA Group

Latham & Watkins is advising Alcentra European Direct Lending (Alcentra) in its bid for the BVA Group, the third largest French market research and consulting firm with around 1000 employees in the world, more than half of which are located in France.

Alcentra’s bid was selected by the Toulouse Commercial Court on September 15, 2020 following a particularly competitive process involving three other competing offers. 

The court ruled that the takeover bid made by the funds advised by Alcentra was the best way to ensure the integrity and continuity of the BVA group, as well as the best for its employees, suppliers, and customers. 

The public prosecutor before the Toulouse Court of Appeal has appealed the Toulouse commercial court decision. 

Latham is advising on the transaction with a cross-border team led, in Paris, by restructuring partner Hervé Diogo Amengual, with Eeva Bernard on restructuring matters; partner Charles-Antoine Guelluy with Thibault Burnier, Ornella Capillon, Lea Margono, and Delphine van Damme on corporate matters; partner Michel Houdayer with Aurélien Lorenzi on finance matters; partner Xavier Renard with Alexis Caminel on tax matters; partner Jacques Philippe Gunther with Laure Maes and John Wileur on competition law matters; partner Matthias Rubner with Jad Clam on labor law matters; and partner Myria Saarinen with Charlotte Guérin on litigation matters. In the US, the team is being led by New York partner Adam Goldberg and counsel Brian Rock, with Aditi Sharma on restructuring matters; Washington, D.C. partner Marc Granger with Patrick Tomlinson on corporate matters; and New York partner Robert Malionek with Nicole Langston on litigation matters.