Dechert LLP announced that François Hellot, will be joining the firm as a partner in Paris effective as of April 30, 2009 to help continue to build up Dechert's highly regarded French corporate and securities practice.
François specialises in M&A and capital market for public and private companies, both French and international. He has extensive expertise representing both issuers and managers in private equity transactions, including leveraged buyouts, venture capital and growth capital.
Alain Decombe, managing partner of Dechert's Paris office and head of the Paris Corporate & Securities practice:"François is a talented and extremely able lawyer. His arrival represents another development for Dechert's Paris-based corporate practice. The firm's commitment to the French M&A market remains clear."
Said François: "I am delighted to join a firm with such a dynamic reputation in the M&A sector, and look forward to help building up the practice in France over the coming years."
François is a member of the Paris Bar. His academic qualifications include a DEA droit anglo-saxon des affaires from Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (postgraduate degree in comparative common law, 1994), and an IEP Section économique et financière (MBA equivalent with major in finance, 1994).
Prior to joining Dechert, François was a a corporate partner in Fried Frank's Paris office. He joined Fried Frank in 2005 as European counsel and became partner there in 2007.