Nicolas Alfonsi
Biography
Overview
Nicolas Alfonsi is a senior associate in the EMEA Private Equity team of our Global Mergers & Acquisitions practice at White & Case.
Fluent in French and English, Nicolas is admitted to the bars of Paris and New York. His practice covers both complex domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, as well as private equity-backed investments, on behalf of multinational clients, such as financial sponsors, listed and non-listed companies, industrials, entrepreneurs, managers, and banks.
Nicolas works on a variety of M&A matters, including in stressed or distressed contexts. He was thus part of the White & Case team representing funds of global alternative asset manager Apollo throughout their high-profile investment alongside SVP Global into Vallourec, a world leader in premium tubular solutions, up until Apollo's exit by way of a sale to ArcelorMittal for c. €1 billion in 2024. Nicolas was also part of the team advising care home provider Orpea SA on its precedent-making restructuring and the related investment of French public institution Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations. In 2021, he worked on private equity fund Amber Capital's sale of its shares in media group Lagardère to CAC 40 Vivendi.
Nicolas is moreover active in strategic M&A transactions, most recently the sale by state-owned postal service group La Poste of last-mile B2B delivery platform Stuart to private equity fund Mutares in 2023, the $1.8 billion sale by Liberty Global of UPC PL to the Iliad group in 2022, the acquisition by the private equity sponsor Piab of leading vacuum gripping solutions provider Joulin Cemma, and the representation of the Altitude Infra Group in several acquisitions. In 2021, he was seconded to the Head of Legal M&A at BNPP Personal Finance to assist on the renegotiation of a major joint-venture partnership with CAC 40 mobility provider Stellantis. Nicolas has furthermore worked on a number of landmark LBO large-cap transactions (e.g. the primary takeover by Ardian of Inovie*, alongside sovereign funds Mubadala and GIC and pension fund APG, and the takeover by Ardian of Cérelia from IK Investment Partners*).
A graduate of Harvard Law School, Nicolas was an editor at the Harvard Business Law Review and research assistant to the late Charles Fried, former United States Solicitor General. He is a member of the economic security group at the Institut Montaigne.
Experience
Recent experience includes:
Apollo (2024)
Representation of Apollo-managed funds in the sale of their 28.4% voting interest and 27.5% equity stake in value-added manufacturer of premium tubular steel products Vallourec SA to ArcelorMittal for c. €1 billion.
Klépierre (2024)
Representation of Klépierre, a real estate investment trust, on its acquisition of O'Parinor, a 70,000 square meters shopping center consisting of 190 shops and restaurants attracting 11 million visitors a year, in partnership with funds managed by Sofidy, a real estate firm and subsidiary of Tikehau Capital.
Geopost SA (2023)
Representation of Geopost SA, Europe's largest parcel delivery network and a subsidiary of La Poste Group, on the sale of its delivery platform Stuart (SRT Group) to the international investment fund Mutares.
Orpea (2022-23)
Representation of Orpea group on its accelerated safeguard plan and the related investment of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, as well as on several strategic M&As, in the context of its restructuring.
Kadiska (2023)
Representation of top management, Axeleo and other shareholders in their sale of Kadiska, an application software company, to global security leader Netskope.
Key managers (2023)
Representation of key managers in (i) their departure from, and litigation with, a leading fund-of-fund wealth management house and (ii) the incorporation of a new private equity fund.
Vallourec SA (2022-23)
Representation of CAC 40 Vallourec S.A. on various high-profile strategic and governance change matters, and top management package.
Bouygues Bâtiment, Omnes Capital and ValVital (2022)
Representation of BBNE, Omnes Capital and ValVital, as well as their investment vehicle, in connection with its conversion into an SEML during the performance of the concession contract, Omnes' and BBNE's exit, and the sale to the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and the Metropole of Grand Nancy, in the context of a first-of-its-kind mediation agreement with the Metropole of Grand Nancy and opponents to the project.
Wren House (2022)
Representation of Wren House in an auction process to complete an investment in a leading French medical diagnostic provider.
Piab (2022)
Representation of Piab Management AB and Piab USA Inc., part of industrial conglomerate Investor AB, on their combined acquisition of Franco-American group Joulin Cemma, a global leader of vacuum gripping solutions, to become the world's leading automation company in the wood industry.
Tip (2022)
Representation of TIP group, a leading pan-European and Canadian provider of equipment services, in its strategic acquisition of French group SOFRAL.
Liberty Global (2021-22)
Representation of Liberty Global, one of the world's leading converged video, broadband and mobile communications companies, on the signing of an agreement with Iliad for the sale of 100% of the share capital in Polish cable operator UPC Poland to Iliad's Polish mobile subsidiary Play for an enterprise value of $1.8 billion.
BNP Paribas Personal Finance (2021)
Seconded to the Head of Legal M&A to assist on the renegotiation of the strategic joint-venture partnership with mobility provider CAC 40 Stellantis, along with Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance and Santander Consumer Finance, making BNP PF Stellantis' exclusive partner for financing activities in the automotive sector in major geographic areas.
Altitude Infra Group (2021)
Representation of Altitude Infra Group, France's leading independent fibre operator, on the acquisition of private equity fund Marguerite's stakes in 3 FTTH concessions and on the acquisition from Covage, a wholesale fibre operator in France, of 26 public and private fibre networks.
Amber Capital (2021)
Representation of Amber Capital on its decision to sell its shares in listed company Lagardère S.A. to CAC 40 listed company Vivendi S.A.
Founders, XAnge and Aglaé Ventures (2021)
Representation of top management, XAnge and Aglaé Ventures in connection with HRtech Skello's EUR 40 million Series B fundraising and Partech's related investment.
Apollo and SVPGlobal (2021)
Representation of Apollo and SVPGlobal on the implementation of the management package in the context of CAC 40 listed company Vallourec S.A.
Ardian Buyout (2021)*
Representation of Ardian in the primary LBO acquisition of Inovie, the leading independent medical diagnostic provider in France, alongside minority shareholders Mubadala, GIC and APG.
Ardian Buyout (2020)*
Representation of Ardian in the LBO acquisition of Cérélia, a leading transatlantic provider of innovative bakery solutions, from IK Investment Partners.
*Transactions worked on previous to joining White & Case
