
Julien Zika
European Counsel, Corporate
Julien Zika’s practice primarily focuses on public takeovers, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions and corporate finance matters.
Bio
Mr. Zika’s recent experience includes advising:
- Air France-KLM in connection with corporate and governance matters relating to the €4 billion recapitalization measures approved by the European Commission in April 2021;
- LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.E. in connection with its US$16.2 billion acquisition of Tiffany & Co.;
- Renault in the proposed but withdrawn €32.6 billion 50/50 merger transaction with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles; and in connection with matters relating to the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance;
- Dassault Systèmes in its US$5.8 billion acquisition of Medidata Solutions, Inc.;
- SCOR SE, which is the fifth-largest reinsurance group worldwide and is listed on both Euronext Paris and the SIX Swiss Exchange:
- in its successful defense against an €8.3 billion unsolicited takeover proposal from Covéa, a French mutual insurance group and the largest shareholder of SCOR SE; and
- in connection with its defense against claims made by the activist fund CIAM;
- Stryker Corporation, one of the world’s leading medical technology companies, in connection with its €183 million acquisition of Vexim, a listed company specialized in the development and sale of vertebral compression fracture solutions, through the acquisition of a controlling stake from its main shareholders (Truffle Capital, Bpifrance Participations and Kreaxi) and certain managers, followed by a cash tender offer, and a subsequent public buyout offer followed by a squeeze-out;
- Westfield Corporation, an international retail property group, in connection with its combination with — through a US$24.7 billion acquisition — Unibail-Rodamco SE, Europe’s largest listed commercial property company, through Australian law schemes of arrangement and a stapling of the shares of Unibail-Rodamco with the shares of a Dutch subsidiary. Such a stapled security structure, including the shares of an already-listed French company, was a first under French law;
- Nokia in its combination with Alcatel-Lucent, the leading IP networking, ultra-broadband access and cloud applications specialist, through a €15.6 billion public exchange offer in France and the U.S., and a subsequent public buyout offer followed by a squeeze-out of the remaining securities. This was the first public exchange offer in France and in the U.S. in a decade, and the largest Finnish M&A transaction ever;
- Cheetah Mobile Inc., an internet and mobile security software company, in its US$58 million acquisition of MobPartner SA, a mobile advertising network; and
- Match.com, L.L.C., an online dating service company, in its US$39 million acquisition of a 6.7% stake in Meetic S.A., and its US$72 million cash tender offer for all of the remaining outstanding shares of Meetic.
Credentials
Education
- Master 2 in Business Law, University of Paris II - Panthéon-Assas, 2006
- Master 1 in Business Law, University of Paris XII - Val de Marne, 2005
- Licence in Law, University of Paris XII - Val de Marne, 2004
Admissions
- Paris
Languages
- French
- English
Julien Zika
European Counsel, Corporate
julien.zika@skadden.com