Stream advises clients on corporate law, mergers and acquisitions and investment matters. Our team has acted for clients with highly diversified profiles in terms of nature (companies and financial institutions), size (from CAC 40 companies to mid-size businesses and start-ups) and sector (transport, energy, industry, finance, insurance, brokerage, etc.).

We assist clients at all stages (from initial approach, to negotiations and closing) of operations and transactions:

• Business operations: mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, minority shareholdings, etc.;
• Investments, divestments and carve-outs;
• Fundraising;
• Capital reorganization;
• Structuring of investment funds;
• Strategic partnerships and other complex contracts;
• Corporate governance;
• Management of corporate relationships (articles of association, shareholders agreements) and resolution of disputes between the management, the shareholders and other stakeholders;
• Participation of employees and management in company’s shareholding, and executive compensation.

Our M&A and Corporate Law teams work in close collaboration with the other teams of the firm, and in particular the Finance, Tax, Employement Law and Restructuring teams.

Our transactions frequently imply an international aspect.

Recent matters include:

• Counsel to Engie in the creation of a joint venture with the Casino group, named “Reservoir Sun”, which is the main player in France in the solar self-consumption sector;
• Advising Alteo in the creation of a joint venture in China with the JinYi group;
• Structuring and creation of investment funds (investors: Arkéa, BPGO, Région Bretagne, Groupama, Normandie Participations);
• Counsel to Zephyr & Borée in the creation of a joint venture with Jifmar Offshore Services for the construction and operation of a sail cargo ship dedicated to the transportation of the Ariane 6 launcher;
• Counsel to NewFund in its investment in HappyMeal in Shanghai;
• Counsel to a major insurer in the financing and structuring of a merger between brokerage firms;
• Counsel to Sogestran in its investment in Neoline;
• Counsel to Grizzly Responsible Investment in its fundraising and subsequent acquisition by Beyond Ratings

Insolvency procedure is a complex process that highlights divergent interests.

Our team regularly intervenes in insolvency procedures , particularly on behalf of designated Mandataires de Justice. We have extensive expertise in insolvency proceedings  and  a real understanding of the stakeholders’ expectations, that allow us to establish a strategy that best protects your interests according to the context.

Our team’s technical and practical experience allows us to assist any company faced with such procedures, whether it is the insolvent company, its managers or its shareholders, as well as its creditors or partners.

Our team of specialists also master the sometimes perilous field of “sale at the Bar of the Court”, under pre-pack or within the framework of a procedure already opened and they will bring a definite added value to the growth projects of a company wishing to acquire a company, whether competitor or complementary, in difficulty.

Our teams have a solid knowledge of regulated activities and professions, in particular the regulation of Environmentally Classified Facilities.

Recent matters include:

• Restructuring of a fishing cooperative;
• Handling the insolvency proceeding of a tidal turbine company ;
• Handling the liquidation of a refinery;
• Counsel to an investment fund regarding the acquisition of Sea Tankers Shipping under a prepack deal;
• Follow-up of the liquidation of a group operating in telecommunications;
• Assistance of a supplier in the face of recurrent insolvency of printing plants;
• Assistance to creditors with a right of retention.

With its team of specialists in employment law, Stream, historically specialised in maritime law, has also developed an expertise in maritime employment law, for which the firm is particularly recognised.

EMPLOYMENT LAW AND MARITIME LABOUR LAW

Well aware that social law is becoming increasingly complex and that it is now a strategic tool for competitiveness, Stream advises its clients on all their employment law issues.

We provide practical, clear and pragmatic advice and help our clients to identify their exposure to social risks and to understand them, in order to reduce the consequences for the company and its management.

We assist our clients in both advisory and litigation matters, in France and abroad via our correspondents, and represent our clients before the competent authorities and courts.

Our team of lawyers and legal advisors are involved in the following areas :

• Collective relations,
• Restructuring,
• Social security and social protection,
• Health and safety,
• Individual relations,
• Management,
• Criminal labour law.

Our recent interventions include :

• Assistance to a cross-border road transport company following an URSSAF adjustment of nearly €20 million;
• Advice to a company director in the negotiation of his amicable departure (over €1 million obtained);
• Review and renegotiation of the collective agreements of a logistics company with approximately 400 employees.

MARITIME SOCIAL LAW

Historically specialised in maritime law, Stream has developed over many years an expertise in maritime employment law, for which the firm is particularly well known.

Our team of experts advises our national and international clients on all their maritime labour law issues, both in terms of advice and litigation (disputes between employers and seafarers, relations with the French authorities, etc.).

Our clients in the maritime sector (transport, cruising, yachting, fishing and yachting), who are regularly confronted with problems requiring immediate action – in particular in the event of the seizure of a vessel – appreciate our responsiveness and agility in a multi-jurisdictional context (vessels under foreign flags, different places of residence of the crew, foreign employers, etc.).

We work on all aspects of maritime labour law and have developed a recognised expertise in the following areas: international contracts, issues relating to the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, working time and work organisation, treatment of crew in the context of the sale of a vessel, social security for seafarers, health and safety – in particular serious occupational accidents.

Our recent interventions include :

• Advising yacht owners on minimum social security standards (in particular with regard to Article L. 5551-1 of the Transport Code);
• Advising managers/employers on the applicability of French labour law and mandatory rules (including working time and dismissal procedure);
• Counsel to a major luxury cruise operator in connection with the takeover of the shipowner Paul Gauguin Croisières, a specialist in cruises to French Polynesia, Fiji and the South, and its seafarers;
• Advising a major energy company on the employment aspects of the construction and operation of an offshore wind farm;
• Advising a ferry company on the management of maritime personnel;
• Advising an investment fund in the acquisition of the Sea Tankers fleet, including maritime labour law issues;
• Advice to a fishing company following a serious accident at work.

Tax is always a key element of any operation or transaction, and can easily become a matter of concern to companies or individuals not properly advised on their duties and liabilities.

Our fully-integrated tax team, working hand-in-hand with our other teams, provides specialised advice to clients, and when necessary, defend clients, to ensure a smooth tax treatment of their activities.

Our tax team advises on a wide range of tax matters, including:

• VAT
• Corporate tax
• Tax treatment of foreign companies carrying-out activities in France
• Local taxes
• Tax treatment of transfer of companies
• Capital gains tax

We regularly assist our clients within their tax investigations and disputes before the competent courts, and realise tax audits related to their activity in France.

We assist clients obtaining tax rulings when there is a need to clarify the tax regime applicable on certain taxable operations or the tax doctrine.

We regularly liaise with the French authority in charge of drafting the tax doctrine, the ‘Direction de la Législation Fiscale’, to discuss the tax legal framework and obtain the correct interpretations of the applicable regulations.

Our tax team has a specialised expertise on the tax issues applicable to the transport industries, such as shipping, aviation and logistics. As such, our team has recognised expertise in advising clients on specific tax treatments applicable to those industries, including the French tonnage tax regime.

Recent matters include:

• Obtention of a tax ruling on the VAT reduced rate applicable on imports of fish fillets
• Assisting a broker during a tax control and representing the client before the administrative jurisdiction to challenge the tax claim on withholding tax and VAT due on broker’s commissions
• Advising a shipping company on tax tonnage regime and consequences of the exit from the tonnage tax regime
• Assisting clients for the VAT Reclaim (assistance in the lodging of the reclaim and in the underlying litigation) following import of a good in EU
• Providing consultations on the tax regime applicable to the commercial or the private use of a vessel and the switching of those two regimes.