Clifford Chance has acted as lead counsel for Airbus Group on the finalisation of the original agreement signed in December 2014 with Safran on their Airbus Safran Launchers 50/50 Joint Venture, which becomes a fully-fledged operational company.
Airbus Safran Launchers was already managing launcher programme activities and associated equity stakes, and with this closing the company officially incorporates the parent companies' assets and subsidiaries related to its core business.
Airbus Safran Launchers is a world-class company, with about 8,400 employees in France and Germany. It is the head company in a group comprising 11 subsidiaries and affiliates, all leading players in their fields: APP, Arianespace, Cilas, Eurockot, Eurocryospace, Europropulsion, Nuclétudes, Pyroalliance, Regulus, Sodern and Starsem. Airbus Safran Launchers inherits a rich portfolio of products and services, enabling it to deliver innovative and competitive solutions to numerous customers around the world.
Today's final step is the culmination of an ambitious strategic initiative, started in 2014, to reshape the launcher industry in Europe and better serve French, German and European strategic interests.
Clifford Chance has been advising Airbus Group (Edouard Eltvedt, Head of M&A Legal, Bertrand Milhiet, M&A Legal) and Airbus Defence and Space (legal department including Jocelyne Briec, Laure-Anne Levivier and Stéphanie Reille now part of Airbus Safran Launchers) since 2014 with a team composed of:
* in Paris, Gilles Lebreton (lead partner), Sue Palmer (of counsel), Dessislava Savova (partner), Olivier Gaillard (counsel), Marine Jamain, Grégory Sroussi and Alexandre Manasterski (associates) on corporate and commercial contracts aspects, Sybille Sculy-Logotheti (associate) on intellectual property aspects, Anne-Sophie Plé (counsel) and David Gérard (associate) on real estate aspects, Marion Roquette-Pfister (counsel) and Daphné Celet (associate) on public law aspects, Frédérick Lacroix (partner) and Nathaniel Merino (associate) on finance aspects, and Anne-Sophie Cammas (associate) on employment aspects;
* in Munich, Nicole Englisch (partner), Regina Freckmann, Jessica Wilckens, Andrea Köhler (associates) on corporate aspects, and Martin Barlösius (associate) on real estate aspects.
