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Florent Rigaud

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The French government, through its investment bank Bpifrance, has recently invested in the newly created Ace Aéro Partenaires fund, which aims to support French SMEs in the aviation industry that have been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent drop in aircraft deliveries. 630 million Euros have been raised so far, with the French State (through Bpifrance) contributing 150 million Euros, Bpifrance (from its own funds) 50 million Euros, the “big four” French manufacturers (Airbus, Safran, Dassault and Thales) 200 million Euros, and the fund manager, Tikehau, the remaining 230 million Euros.

The investment is part of the French government’s 15 billion Euro plan to revive and transform the sector in three steps:

  1. providing emergency relief to the industry and its workforce, through export credits, government orders and emergency funding;
  2. investing in SMEs and the technological transformation of French aviation; and
  3. investing in R&D to design and build tomorrow’s aircraft.

Continue Reading Investing in the future: France’s bet on the aviation industry

We are very excited to welcome our new Paris team, as we have now been joined by partner Victoria Westcott and counsel Florent Rigaud, as well as senior associate Elaine Porter (joining shortly) and associate Abdullahi Mohammed.

This new team brings significant diversification to Reed Smith’s global asset finance capability, adding particular expertise in working with lessors to our existing strengths on the financing and airline sides. Our colleagues in Paris are currently the only English and French law qualified team practising in both the English and French languages, giving us a unique ability to serve our clients not only in the United Kingdom and Europe, but throughout the Francophone world.

Florent’s client base includes a number of operating lessors, and he has kindly agreed to be interviewed for our blog – we hope you enjoy!
Continue Reading Meet the Team: Florent Rigaud