Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has advised Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel (BFCM) alongside De Pardieu Brocas Maffei on the acquisition of GE’s Equipment Finance and Receivable Finance businesses in France and Germany which have combined net earnings assets of over $10 billion following a competitive auction process. GE Capital’s Commercial Lending and Leasing (CLL) platforms in France and Germany provide factoring and leasing products and services to a broad range of commercial customers.

Crédit Mutuel group is the second largest retail bank in France with a strong competitive positioning in home loans, SME and non-life insurance and is GE’s long-term partner in French factoring.

It was announced on Thursday 3 December that a memorandum of understanding for the potential sale had been signed. The proposed transaction will be submitted to the relevant works councils for their information and consultation. The completion of the transaction would also be subject to customary regulatory and antitrust approvals.

BLP worked alongside French law firm De Pardieu Brocas Maffei and German law firm Gleiss Lutz. The relationship between BLP and De Pardieu dates back many years, with this the biggest joint transaction to date. Slaughter and May, Bredin Prat and Hengeller Mueller acted for GE.

Lead partner Adam Bogdanor from BLP’s Corporate Finance team states: “This was a great transaction for us to work on with De Pardieu Brocas Maffei and Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel. The teams worked tirelessly to provide a seamless service in a multi-jurisdictional and multi-disciplinary transaction.”

The BLP team comprised: partner Adam Bogdanor and associate Finella Hartono (Corporate Finance); partners Neal Todd and Gary Richards and associate James Hamon (Tax); and associate director Mimi Curran (Commercial).