Armand W. Grumberg

Mr. Grumberg also has significant experience in shareholder activist-related matters. Prior to joining Skadden in 2003, he practiced law in the New York, London and Paris offices of another leading international law firm.

He also serves on Skadden’s Policy Committee, the firm’s governing body. Mr. Grumberg has been recognized in numerous industry publications, including:

• Repeatedly ranked as a leading attorney by Who’s Who Legal, Chambers Global, Chambers Europe, The Legal 500 EMEA, IFLR1000 and Best Lawyers (including in its 2024 edition as a leading individual in corporate/M&A in France, his 10th consecutive year listed)
• Repeatedly ranked (including in 2023) by Forbes and La Lettre des Juristes d’Affaires as a Top Lawyer of the CAC 40
• Mergers & Acquisitions Lawyer of the Year in France in 2024 and 2023 and Contested & Hostile Bids Expert of the Year in France in 2024, 2023 and 2022 by M&A Today as part of its Global Awards
• M&A Lawyer of the Year in France, Contested and Hostile Bids Expert of the Year in France, and Public and Private Acquisitions Expert of the Year in France at The Lawyer Network Annual Awards 2023
• M&A Lawyer of the Year at the Leaders in Law Global Awards in 2023 and 2021
• Corporate and M&A Adviser of the Year in France at the Lawyer Monthly Legal Awards in 2023 and 2022
• One of the top 30 lawyers in France in Décideurs’ 2022 Elite Business Lawyers report
• Public and Private Acquisitions Expert of the Year in France and Contested and Hostile Bids Expert of the Year in France at the Global Law Experts Annual Awards in 2022
• Mergers & Acquisitions Lawyer of the Year in France in 2024, 2022, 2021 and 2020 and Contested & Hostile Bids Expert of the Year in France in 2024 at the Corporate America Today Annual Awards
• M&A Lawyer of the Year in France in 2024 and Contested and Hostile Bids Expert of the Year in France and Public and Private Acquisitions Expert of the Year in France in 2024, 2022 and 2021 by CorporateINTL
• Deal Maker of the Year at the Finance Monthly Magazine Awards in 2020 and 2019
• Contested & Hostile Bids Expert of the Year — France in 2024 and M&A Lawyer of the Year in 2024 and 2022 by Lawyer International’s Legal 100

Transactions in which he has acted include:

• Air France-KLM in connection with:
  • Apollo’s investment of up to €1.5 billion into an ad hoc affiliate of Air France-KLM that operates the miles issuance activity of the Flying Blue loyalty program
  • Apollo’s €500 million investment in 2023 into an operating affiliate of Air France that owns a pool of components dedicated to the airline’s engineering and maintenance activities
  • its strategic global air cargo partnership with CMA CGM
  • Apollo’s €500 million investment in 2022 into an affiliate of Air France that owns a pool of spare engines dedicated to the airline’s engineering and maintenance activities
  • corporate and governance matters relating to its 2022 €2.256 billion capital increase with preferential subscription rights and the €4 billion recapitalization measures approved by the European Commission in April 2021
• Renault in numerous transactions, including:
  • its agreements with Nissan regarding the rebalanced cross-shareholding between Renault and Nissan (including the transfer by Renault of 28.4% of Nissan shares into a French trust), the reinforcement of the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance’s governance and the investment agreement of Nissan, as strategic investor, in Ampere
  • the negotiations of the sale of a 67.69% interest in AvtoVAZ to NAMI and the sale of 100% of Renault Russia to the City of Moscow
  • its proposed (but withdrawn) €32.6 billion 50/50 merger transaction with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
  • additional matters relating to the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance
  • its US$1.3 billion strategic acquisition of a 25% stake in AvtoVAZ
  • Renault V.I. in the combination of its bus business with Iveco
• LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.E. in connection with its US$15.8 billion acquisition of Tiffany & Co.
• SCOR in numerous transactions, including the:
  • acquisition of 5.01% of its own shares from Covéa for €252 million upon the partial exercise of the call option granted by Covéa in 2021, and the subsequent sale of these shares to BNP Paribas Cardif
  • successful defense against a €8.3 billion unsolicited takeover proposal from Covéa
  • defense against claims made by the activist fund CIAM
  • equity investments by Covéa and Sompo
  • acquisition of a controlling interest in Presses Universitaires de France
  • US$750 million acquisition of Generali U.S. and acquisition of a controlling stake in MRM
  • 315 million Swiss franc perpetual subordinated notes and cornerstone investment in the IPO of PICC Group
  • US$912.5 million acquisition of Transamerica Re’s mortality business from Aegon and its 625 million Swiss franc perpetual fixed-to-floating rate step-up notes
  • €150 million contingent capital equity line
  • sale of its stake in Gecimed
  • 3.3 billion Swiss franc acquisition of Converium Holding AG (the first successful unsolicited takeover bid ever in the reinsurance industry) and the creation of three Societas Europaea (including the first publicly listed SE in France)
  • €605 million acquisition of Revios, €377 million rights offering, €350 million deeply subordinated notes offering and spin-off of its non-life reinsurance activities to SCOR GLOBAL P&C 
• Capgemini in numerous transactions, including its:
  • sale of Odigo to Apax Partners
  • US$4 billion acquisition of IGATE
  • acquisition of Euriware from Areva
  • 321 million Brazilian real sale of a 22% stake of its Brazilian subsidiary CPM Braxis to Caixa Econômica Federal
  • €233 million acquisition of a 55% stake in Brazilian IT services company CPM Braxis
  • acquisition of the Latin American financial shared services operations of the Unilever Group
  • €507.2 million capital increase
  • US$1.25 billion acquisition of Kanbay
  • acquisition of a 51% interest in Indigo from the Unilever Group
  • US$12.1 billion acquisition of the consulting business of Ernst & Young
• Dassault Systèmes in its US$5.8 billion acquisition of Medidata Solutions, Inc.
• Westfield Corporation in its combination with Unibail-Rodamco SE, creating the world’s premier developer and operator of flagship shopping destinations, with the new group’s stapled securities listed on the Euronext Paris and Amsterdam. The transaction implied an enterprise value for Westfield Corporation of US$24.7 billion
• Auchan Retail S.A. on the acquisition of a 36.16% stake in its Hong Kong-listed subsidiary Sun Art Retail Group Ltd. by Alibaba Group Holding Limited for US$2.88 billion
• Nokia in its combination, through a €15.6 billion public exchange offer and a subsequent public buyout offer followed by a squeeze-out, with Alcatel-Lucent
• Stryker Corporation in connection with its €183 million acquisition of Vexim, a French-listed company, through the acquisition of a controlling stake from its main shareholders and certain managers, followed by a cash tender offer and a subsequent public buyout offer followed by a squeeze-out
• The Walt Disney Company in the sale of Disney Hachette Presse, a joint venture with French group Lagardère, to French publishing group Fleurus
• Austrian investor Torger Christian Wolff in several transactions, including the sales of minority stakes in Williams Grand Prix Holdings and HWA AG, and the acquisition of a significant minority stake in Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd., the company operating the Mercedes F1 team. Mr. Grumberg also advised Williams Invest Holdings (an investment vehicle owned by Mr. Wolff) in connection with the IPO of Williams Grand Prix Holdings and the acquisition of a minority stake in Williams F1
• Austrian insurer UNIQA in its sale of a portfolio of 54 U.S. and European private equity fund interests to a number of secondary and institutional international buyers
• Yves Rocher Group in the acquisition of a 19.3% stake in Yves Rocher SA from Sanofi
• Kering (ex-PPR) in its €1.2 billion sale of Conforama to Steinhoff, and in Gucci Group’s acquisition of a stake in Alexander McQueen
• Matmut Group in its strategic partnership with La Banque Postale relating to credit offers and lenders’ insurance
• Arcelor in its defense against a hostile takeover bid from, and its subsequent acquisition by, Mittal Steel for €27 billion
• Fournier Pharma and its shareholders in Fournier Pharma’s €1.2 billion acquisition by Solvay
• Quiksilver in its €240 million acquisition of Skis Rossignol
• Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Rothschild, financial advisors to Aventis, in Aventis’ defense against a hostile takeover bid from, and its subsequent acquisition by, Sanofi-Synthélabo for €59 billion
• the French Republic and its financial advisor Société Générale in France Télécom’s tender offer for Wanadoo for €3.9 billion
• Royal Philips Electronics in its sale of its consumer manufacturing services division to Jabil Circuit, Inc. and its sale of its fax business to Sagem
• Société Générale in its proposed merger with Paribas S.A. and its defense against a hostile takeover bid from BNP
• Adidas in its acquisition of Salomon
• SITA in its acquisition of the non-U.S. assets of Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI)
• Swisscom in its privatization
• The Puig Group (Paco Rabanne) in its acquisition of Nina Ricci
• Swiss Re in its acquisition of SAFR from AGF and its subsequent sale to PartnerRe

In addition, Mr. Grumberg frequently is involved in advising clients with respect to strategic cross-border or domestic litigation matters.

Mr. Grumberg lectures on topics related to his practice and is the author of various legal publications.