Bird & Bird, Clifford Chance, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Racine are acting in connection with Mercedes-Benz AG's entry into the capital of Automotive Cells Company SE (ACC), a joint venture created in August 2020 between the Stellantis group and TotalEnergies (through its subsidiary Saft), dedicated to the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles in Europe. The acquisition of this stake remains subject to the usual regulatory approvals.
Bird & Bird advised the Stellantis group (PSA Automobiles SA and Opel Automobile GmbH), in its capacity as an existing shareholder, with Carole Bodin (partner) and Sofia El Biyed (associate), who coordinated and led the project and acted on the corporate/M&A aspects; Anne-Charlotte Le Bihan (partner) and Floriane Chartier (associate), on the intellectual property aspects; Jessica Derocque (counsel) and Sadri Desenne-Djoudi (associate), on the financing aspects; Mathilde Le Roy (counsel), on the tax law aspects Bird & Bird was already advising the Stellantis group in the context of the creation of ACC in August 2020.
Clifford Chance advised the TotalEnergies group and Saft, the existing shareholder, with Marianne Pezant, Emmanuel Mimin and Gilles Lebreton (partners), Adeline Nayagom (associate) on corporate/M&A aspects; Dessislava Savova (partner) and Alexandre Manasterski (associate) on commercial contracts aspects; Pierre-Benoit Pabot du Chatelard (partner) and Guilhem Dardoize (associate) on financing aspects.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP advised Mercedez-Benz AG with Arash Attar-Rezvani (partner), Patrick Dupuis, Aurore Martinelli and Natalia Rotaru (associates) on corporate/M&A aspects; Thomas Perrot (partner) and Margaux Lizé (associate) on tax law aspects; Philippe Desprès (of counsel) and Carine Louyot (associate) on employment law aspects; Pascal Bine (partner), on regulatory aspects; Mariam Sadqi (associate) on financing aspects.
Racine acted as joint counsel to Stellantis, TotalEnergies/Saft and Mercedes-Benz AG, on merger control and state aid law aspects with Bastien Thomas (partner), François Aubin and Cécilia Pataut (associates). Racine was already counsel to Stellantis and TotalEnergies/Saft in the context of the creation of ACC in August 2020.
