Raphaël Durand serves as a trusted advisor to financial sponsors—including private equity firms, infrastructure investors, and sovereign and pension funds—as well as corporate clients engaged in domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, with extensive experience in private capital transactions. Clients look to Raphaël for strategic counsel on a wide range of transactional matters, including leveraged buyouts, equity and quasi-equity investments, structured equity, and management incentive plans, as well as carve-outs, co-investments and secondaries. His experience encompasses a diverse range of industries, including TMT, healthcare, infrastructure, industrials and retail. Raphaël has been recognized as a “Rising Star” for Private Equity and M&A in France by International Financial Law Review (IFLR).
Experience
Most matters completed prior to joining Ropes & Gray
Private Equity
- PAI Partners:
- On the acquisition of European Camping Group from Carlyle, Montefiore and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP)
- On the acquisition by European Camping Group of the Vacanceselect group from Permira
- On the acquisition of the Asmodee Group from Eurazeo and its subsequent disposal to Embracer
- On the acquisition of B&B Hotels from Carlyle and subsequent disposal to Goldman Sachs
- Permira:
- On the disposal of the Vacanceselect group to PAI Partners and its portfolio company European Camping Group
- On the acquisition of Exclusive Networks from Cobepa, and the subsequent IPO of Exclusive Networks on Euronext Paris
- Cinven in connection with the sale of the Tractel Group to Alimak
- Macquarie Asset Management, lead investor in Verkor's Series C financing round, the largest equity raise for a French startup (c. €1 billion)
- Cathay Capital in the newly combined Siaci Saint-Honoré–Burrus Group alongside OTPP, Bpifrance and Ardian, acquired from Charterhouse
- Blackstone on the sale of the Vitalia Group (now Elsan) to Vedici, a CVC Capital Partners portfolio company
- Apax Partners in the sale of the Texa group to Naxicap Partners
- Triton on the acquisition of Fläkt Woods
- Montefiore on the setting-up of a multi-asset continuation fund
- Unigrains in its flex equity investment in Groupe Bertrand
- Partners Group, ADIA, Permira, Tikehau Capital and Cinven on several bid transactions
Infrastructure
- APG in its €250 million investment in electric vehicle charging pioneer Driveco
- Macquarie Asset Management, lead investor in Verkor's Series C financing round, the largest equity raise for a French startup (c. €1 billion)
- Corio (Macquarie Group) in the context of its consortium agreements with TotalEnergies and Qair for ongoing offshore wind tenders
- Vauban Infrastructure Partners:
- On its strategic partnership through a joint venture with Bouygues Telecom for the purpose of acquiring indefeasible rights of use in medium-density areas and renting those rights to Bouygues Telecom, a transaction named European Fiber Deal of the Year at the 2020 PFI Awards
- On several bid transactions
- The lenders of Vauban Infrastructure Partners and Predica on the financing of the acquisition of a 45% stake in Telefónica’s fiber network (FTTH) in Spain (Bluevia)
- Omnes Capital on the sale of its minority stake in leading independent power producer Prosolia (through Prosomnes) to Infravia
- Omnes Capital, Bpifrance and Société Générale Capital Partenaires on the sale of their stake in UNITe, the French independent renewable energy producer and developer, to Ardian
- RWE on the disposal of 19 hydropower stations in France and Portugal to Austrian energy utility KELAG
- Bolloré Energy on the disposal of Société Française Donges-Metz, operator of the DMM pipeline, to the French State
Mergers and Acquisitions
- Plastic Omnium on the sale of its environment business to a consortium composed of Latour Capital and Bpifrance
- The Airbus group:
- On several major transactions, including the creation of the new Airbus Defense and Space division
- On the acquisition of Vizada (Marlink) from Apax Partners and its subsequent disposal to Apax Partners
- On the sale of Vector Aerospace to StandardAero Ltd., a portfolio company of Veritas Capital
- Mondelēz International:
- On the sale of its French confectionery business (CPK/Carambar & Co) to Eurazeo
- On the combination of its global coffee business with D.E. Master Blenders 1753, B.V., named JDE
- FläktGroup, a portfolio company of Triton Partners, on the sale of air filtration specialist DELBAG to Hengst SE