Practice Expertise
- Banking and Finance
- Financial Institutions and Services
Areas of Practice
- Banking and Finance
- Financial Institutions and Services
WSG Practice Industries
WSG Leadership
- Banking & Finance Group - Member
- WSG Coronavirus Task Force Group - Member
Profile
Jean-François Adelle advises financial institutions, investment and debt funds and large borrowers and sponsors on transactional, regulatory and litigation matters (mainly in international cases). He heads the firm’s Legal Opinions Committee.
He assists his clients in a wide range of general and structured debt finance transactions, syndicated and bilateral: fund finance, asset-based facilities, acquisition finance, bond issues, project finance (energy, telecom), trade finance, securitization as well as refinancing, debt restructuring, acquisition/sale of claims portfolios and cash management.
His practice also includes regulatory advice and financial engineering related to credit disintermediation (alternative lenders, platforms, etc.), crypto-assets, complex financial products, trust/fiducie, payments, derivatives and prime brokerage.
Finally, he provides assistance in litigation matters before state or arbitral courts in disputes relating to financial transactions (e.g., financial sanctions, wrongful termination, re-characterization, claw back, enforcement of security, liability claims, etc.), mainly in international cases.
Jean-François is the author of many publications and is a frequent speaker at conferences on financial and banking law matters.
He is a member of the P.R.I.M.E Finance panel of experts, Co-Chair of the Banking Law Committee of the International Banking Law Committee. He has led marketplace committees that inspired legislative reforms in the areas of trusts, security interests and the ad hoc regime of security agent. He co-chaired the Work Stream International Financing of the ICC Financial Institutions and International Arbitration Task Force (2016).
He assists his clients in a wide range of general and structured debt finance transactions, syndicated and bilateral: fund finance, asset-based facilities, acquisition finance, bond issues, project finance (energy, telecom), trade finance, securitization as well as refinancing, debt restructuring, acquisition/sale of claims portfolios and cash management.
His practice also includes regulatory advice and financial engineering related to credit disintermediation (alternative lenders, platforms, etc.), crypto-assets, complex financial products, trust/fiducie, payments, derivatives and prime brokerage.
Finally, he provides assistance in litigation matters before state or arbitral courts in disputes relating to financial transactions (e.g., financial sanctions, wrongful termination, re-characterization, claw back, enforcement of security, liability claims, etc.), mainly in international cases.
Jean-François is the author of many publications and is a frequent speaker at conferences on financial and banking law matters.
He is a member of the P.R.I.M.E Finance panel of experts, Co-Chair of the Banking Law Committee of the International Banking Law Committee. He has led marketplace committees that inspired legislative reforms in the areas of trusts, security interests and the ad hoc regime of security agent. He co-chaired the Work Stream International Financing of the ICC Financial Institutions and International Arbitration Task Force (2016).
Bar Admissions
Admitted to the Bar 1979 , member of the Paris Bar
Education
- Specialized Graduate Studies Diploma of Counsel and Corporate Lawyer (DESS), University of Nancy
- Graduate Study Diploma (DEA) in Community Law, University of Paris 2 Pantheon-Assas
- Institute of Comparative Law, University of Paris 2 Pantheon-Assas
- LL.M, Penn Carey Law school
Areas of Practice
- Banking and Finance
- Financial Institutions and Services
Professional Career
Significant Accomplishments
- Assisted a dozen of international banks in the debt restrucuring ofARPEA
- Assisted Enbridge in Saint Nazaire, Fecamp, Courseules and Grand large offshore wind farms
- Assisted Castorama and Bricodépot in 600M state guaranteed loan
- Assisted Coface Finanz in connection with cross breeder receivables finance documentation
- Assisted BCI Mer Rouge in connection with the refinancing of corporate loans in East Africa
- Assisted Bank of America in the refinancing of the acquisition of Brandsintown by HLD Europe
- Assisted Credimundi in the refinancing of secured export loan receivables
- Assisted Assicurazioni Generali in its indirect cash pooling arrangement
- Assisted several investment firms from the United Kingdom in connection with validity and enforceability opinions of collateral management documentations
- Assisted for Eurofins Scientific in connection with several listed bond issues
- Assisted Caisse des Dépôts in the putting in place of a Fiducie
- Assisted Deerfield Management Company, L.P. in connection with the acquisition financing of Flamel Technologies
- Management trust for Caisse des Dépôts
- Assisted Clarins in the financing of the acquisition of all its listed shares and its delisting,
- Assisted Africa Merchant Bank in several financings of Sub-Saharan Africa Telecommunication Operators
- Assisted the Libyan Investment Authority in investment litigation
- Assisted an international consortium of submarine cable operators in an action for indemnification of frozen deposit in the bankruptcy of the Bulgarian bank SVB
- Assisted SNCF and SOCRIF in mediatised litigation against Crédit Immobilier de France related to the banking group governance structure
Professional Associations
Co-Chair Banking of the IBA Banking law committee
Member of the P.R.I.M.E Finance panel of experts
Seminars/ Presentation
-Réforme des sûretés et financements sur actifs, Paris, avril 2019
- Arbitrating Banking and Finance Related Disputes: A New Paradigm? Project Finance Transactions, Cairo - 10 February 2019 CRCICA
- Trends and perspectives of international arbitration in disputes involving financial institutions, (with A. Fessas ICC Secretary general, Mohamed Abel Wahab (FCIarb), Jeffrey Goldman (chairman, PRIME Finance)), IBA Rome October 2018
• Need to know about insolvency? IBA IFLC, Amsterdam, mai 2018
• 5th Banking and Finance Law Seminar, the 2016 reform of the law of obligations in the French civil code: Impact on banking and finance transactions, mars 2018
• Insolvency in Step in rights in project finance, IBA, Washington DC, September 2017
Key note speaker at the 5th Financial law seminar, Malta, « The reform of the French Civil Code law of obligations, impact on financial operations »
- Speaker at the conference «The Debt Market at the time of the Sapin 2 Law 2 » Development institute international
- Speaker at the conference “Significant progress in the competitiveness of the French financial regulatory environment” r Paris Europlace
- Moderator of the panel Funding Africa’s growth, IBA, Paris, June 2017
- Speaker at the Conference SGG / Jeantet : “securisation of investment structures of family business: the luxembourg FIAR and applications of fiducie”, February2017
- Speaker at the Conference ICC International Arbitration, Arbitration and international financing, Vienna, October 2016,
Professional Activities and Experience
Coward Chance (Cifford Chance), London, 1985
Shearman & Sterling 1986 - 1988
Bignon Lebray: 1989 - 2003
Jeantet: since 2003
- Assisted a dozen of international banks in the debt restrucuring ofARPEA
- Assisted Enbridge in Saint Nazaire, Fecamp, Courseules and Grand large offshore wind farms
- Assisted Castorama and Bricodépot in 600M state guaranteed loan
- Assisted Coface Finanz in connection with cross breeder receivables finance documentation
- Assisted BCI Mer Rouge in connection with the refinancing of corporate loans in East Africa
- Assisted Bank of America in the refinancing of the acquisition of Brandsintown by HLD Europe
- Assisted Credimundi in the refinancing of secured export loan receivables
- Assisted Assicurazioni Generali in its indirect cash pooling arrangement
- Assisted several investment firms from the United Kingdom in connection with validity and enforceability opinions of collateral management documentations
- Assisted for Eurofins Scientific in connection with several listed bond issues
- Assisted Caisse des Dépôts in the putting in place of a Fiducie
- Assisted Deerfield Management Company, L.P. in connection with the acquisition financing of Flamel Technologies
- Management trust for Caisse des Dépôts
- Assisted Clarins in the financing of the acquisition of all its listed shares and its delisting,
- Assisted Africa Merchant Bank in several financings of Sub-Saharan Africa Telecommunication Operators
- Assisted the Libyan Investment Authority in investment litigation
- Assisted an international consortium of submarine cable operators in an action for indemnification of frozen deposit in the bankruptcy of the Bulgarian bank SVB
- Assisted SNCF and SOCRIF in mediatised litigation against Crédit Immobilier de France related to the banking group governance structure
Professional Associations
- International Bar Association
- P.R.I.M.E Finance
- Paris Europlace, Financial law committee
- AEDBF
- International Bar Association,
Co-Chair Banking of the IBA Banking law committee
Member of the P.R.I.M.E Finance panel of experts
Seminars/ Presentation
-Réforme des sûretés et financements sur actifs, Paris, avril 2019
- Arbitrating Banking and Finance Related Disputes: A New Paradigm? Project Finance Transactions, Cairo - 10 February 2019 CRCICA
- Trends and perspectives of international arbitration in disputes involving financial institutions, (with A. Fessas ICC Secretary general, Mohamed Abel Wahab (FCIarb), Jeffrey Goldman (chairman, PRIME Finance)), IBA Rome October 2018
• Need to know about insolvency? IBA IFLC, Amsterdam, mai 2018
• 5th Banking and Finance Law Seminar, the 2016 reform of the law of obligations in the French civil code: Impact on banking and finance transactions, mars 2018
• Insolvency in Step in rights in project finance, IBA, Washington DC, September 2017
Key note speaker at the 5th Financial law seminar, Malta, « The reform of the French Civil Code law of obligations, impact on financial operations »
- Speaker at the conference «The Debt Market at the time of the Sapin 2 Law 2 » Development institute international
- Speaker at the conference “Significant progress in the competitiveness of the French financial regulatory environment” r Paris Europlace
- Moderator of the panel Funding Africa’s growth, IBA, Paris, June 2017
- Speaker at the Conference SGG / Jeantet : “securisation of investment structures of family business: the luxembourg FIAR and applications of fiducie”, February2017
- Speaker at the Conference ICC International Arbitration, Arbitration and international financing, Vienna, October 2016,
Professional Activities and Experience
Coward Chance (Cifford Chance), London, 1985
Shearman & Sterling 1986 - 1988
Bignon Lebray: 1989 - 2003
Jeantet: since 2003
Articles
Enhancement of secured creditors rights in France after cornerstone reform of security and insolvency law of September 2021
By Jean-Francois Adelle, Jeantet |March 2022Enhanced secured creditors in France after cornerstone reform of security Law and collective proceedings of September 15, 2021.
By Jean-Francois Adelle, Clotilde Cavelier |October 2021French State Guarantee Scheme to Secure Loans: Clarifications and First Feedback
By Jean-Francois Adelle |April 2020
-Reform of security law and insolvency law in France: Towards a simpler architecture and a better protection of security value in workouts, Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, 11/2019
- French collateral trust, an attractive mechanism to support asset-based lending in France’, SFN French Chapter, 10/2019
Effective from 3 January 2018, France has taken a major step towards alternative debt financing Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, 02/2018
- The ad hoc French security agent regime becomes peer to the Anglo-Saxon trust in secured financings, with Etienne Gentil, Latham & Watkins
- ICC report Financial institutions and international arbitration, co-author, international financing 2016,
French Law of Bonds Reform: the impact on financing transactions, Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, 10, 2016
- "Asymmetrical jurisdiction clauses in financial contracts: France is back in the ranks", with H. Payen, Option Finance, 01/2016
- International Sanctions: What effects on financial obligations and litigation involving a party under sanction, Option Finance, with L. Mongin-Archambaud, 01/2015
- Macron Law two further steps in banking and collaborative financing, Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, 10/2015
- Financing: The French Supreme Court refuses the possibility for credit institutions to the civil law regime of pledge over inventory, Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, 04/2013
- International financing: recognition in French law of the trust and parallel debt, with Emmanuelle Naulais, Option Finance, October 10, 2011
- The trust in infrastructure financing, with Xavier Paper, Bank Review N ° 739, 09/2011
- Recent developments in Chinese law: openness or protectionism? with Emmanuel Meril, The International and Strategic Review, n ° 81, spring 2011
- The trust-surety, factor of competitiveness of the law of the French financing, Studies in the memory of Fernand-Charles Jeantet, Coll. Mixtures, LexisNexis - LITEC (2010)
- The fiduciary lawyer: what positioning for which markets? Right & Business Option N ° 15 of 27 January 2010
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