Public-Private Partnerships.
The digital State, from the sponsor’s perspective.
The firm advises industrial sponsors and strategic investors in the design, negotiation and execution of partnerships with States and their agencies. The transactions handled concern critical infrastructure, sovereign platforms and digital public services, in France, the Mediterranean basin and French-speaking Africa.
The practice is distinguished by a reading of matters from the private operator’s perspective. Without abandoning an understanding of the grammar of public authorities. This dual fluency constitutes the heart of the counsel given.
Where the State modernises, the sponsor must be able to build a sustainable economy.
Designing partnerships that hold over time requires aligning three temporalities: that of the industrial project, that of the financing, that of public procurement. The firm conducts its matters within this alignment.
Areas of intervention.
Digital identity & sovereign services
Design and structuring of sovereign digital identity platforms, civil registries, secure electronic titles and authentication services anchored in public administrations. Counsel covers the contractual architecture, the requirements of technical sovereignty and the allocation of responsibilities between the State, the operator and suppliers.
E-customs, e-taxation, e-procurement
Modernisation of large economic administrations. The firm advises prospective operators on the design and operation of single-window customs systems, tax collection platforms and electronic public procurement systems, particularly in jurisdictions where the State outsources a structuring portion of its sovereign function.
FATF compliance & financial integrity
Structuring of national anti-money-laundering platforms and compliance with international standards. The practice includes counsel on the articulation between sovereign obligations, the requirements of international lenders and the economic viability for the delegated private operator.
Sovereign infrastructure
Ports, terminals, logistics platforms, telecommunications infrastructure and sovereign data centres. The firm conducts the contractual, real estate and grant-related aspects of projects, as well as negotiations with supervisory authorities, lenders and co-investors.
PPPs with user payment or deferred public payment
Design of the contractual architecture, negotiation of service commitments, economic balance of the project, mechanisms for tariff review or availability-based payment, end-of-contract clauses and asset transfer provisions. The firm intervenes at all phases, from upstream preparation to post-signing dispute resolution.
Structuring through dedicated vehicles
Constitution and governance of project companies, articulation between industrial and financial shareholders, agreements tailored to multilateral lenders’ constraints, securing of cash flows and financing of operations. The firm pays particular attention to exit mechanisms and stability clauses.
The movements conducted
by the firm.
Upstream scoping and feasibility
Strategic reading of the regulatory and political context, identification of structuring legal risks, preliminary contractual sizing. The firm helps sponsors decide whether to engage in a project.
Negotiation of the principal contracts
Partnership contract, operating contract, tariff conventions, financing agreements. The firm leads the negotiating table and coordinates the sponsor’s technical and financial advisers.
Securing the conditions for closing
Satisfaction of conditions precedent, administrative authorisations, comfort letters, sovereign guarantee arrangements, contractual stabilisation mechanisms. The phase following signing is handled with the same intensity as the initial negotiation.
Support of contract execution
Contractual monitoring throughout the project term, management of periodic reviews, handling of execution incidents, renegotiations of economic balance, addressing disagreements before they harden.
Exit, transfer, end of contract
Asset transfer, handover to the successor, end-of-contract audit, amicable or contentious resolution, securing the residual interests of the outgoing sponsor.
Give sponsors the means to build for the long term.
Give States the assurance of serious partners.