London private equity & banking law firm Crefovi is delighted to bring you this M&A, private equity & banking law blog, to provide you with forward-thinking and insightful information on the financial and corporate issues for the creative industries.
This M&A, private equity & banking law blog provides regular news and updates, and features summaries of recent news reports, on legal issues facing the global banking, finance and private equity community, in particular in the United Kingdom and France. This blog also provides timely updates and commentary on legal issues in the capital markets and mergers & acquisitions sectors. It is curated by the finance lawyers of our law firm, who specialise in advising our finance, banking, mergers & acquisitions, capital markets & private equity clients in London, Paris and internationally on all their legal issues.
London banking & finance law firm Crefovi advises its clients on all their financing needs, in particular, those related to the fashion and luxury goods sectors, the entertainment, music and film sectors, the art world, the sports sector & high tech market. Crefovi writes and curates this M&A, private equity & banking law blog to guide its clients through the complexities of banking & finance law.
We support our clients out of London, Paris and globally, in finding the best solutions to their various legal issues relating to banking and finance law, either on contentious or non-contentious matters. We also advise our clients on private equity and private equity financing matters, capital markets issuances and mergers & acquisitions.
Crefovi has the necessary experience to represent either lenders and financiers, or borrowers and invested businesses (which are all trading in the creative industries), in which equity or debt is injected.
Moreover, Crefovi has industry teams, built by experienced lawyers with a wide range of practice and geographic backgrounds. These industry teams apply their extensive sectorial expertise to best serve clients’ business needs. Some of these industry teams are the Banking & finance, Mergers & acquisitions, Capital markets and Private equity departments, which curate this M&A, private equity & banking law blog below for you.
Crefovi regularly updates its social media channels, such as Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. Check our latest news there!
Business of sports: navigating investment, regulation and disputes
We had the opportunity to attend an uber-fascinating session at Paris Arbitration Week on 8 April 2025: “The Business of Sports: Navigating Investment, Regulation, and Disputes.” This was, without a doubt, one of the most relevant and informative workshops for our legal practice, touching on themes that resonate directly with the complexities we navigate every day. In the following article, we will delve deeper into the various key points raised by the panel—including investment trends, regulatory frameworks, ownership structures, dispute resolution mechanisms, and the evolving interplay between law and finance in the world of professional sports—while adding our own insights,...
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Digital Services Act: the revolution will be televised
The Digital Services Act is upon us and, with its bestie the Digital Markets Act, promises to force powerful changes in the digital ecosystem currently in place in the European Union and, even globally. The power is shifting back to the people, with the Digital Services Act, and intermediary service providers better listen to their complaints about unclear and cunning terms and conditions of service, their takedown notices for illegal content, products and services, as well as their concerns about bullying, breach of free speech, unfair targeting of minors, minorities, etc. Otherwise, the European Commission and national Digital Services Coordinators...
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Farfetch: anatomy of a fall
Farfetch was a lovely entrepreneurial adventure launched 16 years' ago by thirty-something Jose Neves, but will probably not pass the test of time, in its current iteration. Let's analyse what and who drove Farfetch, and how Farfetch was driven, into the ground, in less than 5 years. We all need to hear cautionary tales, and the Farfetch story definitely fits into this category. Future fashion entrepreneurs, saddle up!
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How Chanel kissed goodbye to France and fully embraced the United Kingdom, for tax reasons
In the background, far from grabbing headlines and the limelights, the shareholders of Chanel, the Wertheimer family, have relentlessly restructured and reorganised the Chanel business, since Brexit. Sensing a massive tax opportunity, Chanel has completed its Frexit in September 2022, kissing goodbye to the nosy and invasive strategies and idiosyncrasies of the French tax administration and control systems. The United Kingdom, and in particular London, is reaffirming its position as a tax haven for the rich and powerful, post Brexit, while France has lost one of its crown jewels, and does not even understand its massive financial loss, blinded by...
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Private equity goes to Hollywood: when investing in media content production became hype
Even in a downturn, private equity money picks Hollywood as a smart bet. Investment firms now view star-driven production banners (and major soundstages) as a long-term play in a crowded content marketplace. How did this happen? Why the sudden change of heart, since finance people had previously always viewed investing in media content production a very risky bet, at best? Is this ‟all in” investment strategy in media content production, implemented by private equity funds, financially sound?
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How to enforce civil and commercial judgments after Brexit?
As explained in our two previous articles relating to Brexit, ‟How to protect your creative business after Brexit?” and ‟Brexit legal implications: the road less travelled”, the European Union (‟EU”) regulations and conventions on the jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, ceased to apply in the United Kingdom (‟UK”) once it no longer was a EU member-state. Therefore, since 1 January 2021 (the ‟Transition date”), no clear enforcement system is in place, to enforce a UK civil or commercial judgment in a EU member-state, and vice-versa. Creative businesses now have to rely on...
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Fashion law in France: a 2020 overview
Since its inception in 2003, the law of luxury goods and fashion law have evolved, matured, and become institutionalised as a standalone area of specialisation in the legal profession. Here is Crefovi's 2020 status update for fashion law in France, detailing each legal practice area relevant to such creative industry.
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Why the valuation of intangible assets matters: the unstoppable rise of intangibles’ reporting in the 21st century’s corporate environment
It is high time France and the UK up their game in terms of accounting for, reporting and leveraging the intangible assets owned by their national businesses and companies, while Asia and the US currently lead the race, here. European lenders need to do their bit, too, to empower creative and innovative SMEs, and provide them with adequate financing to sustain their growth and ambitions, by way of intangible assets backed-lending.
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Registration of beneficial ownership: time to take action
What are business owners obligations, in terms of registering beneficial ownership of their companies? How do these obligations differ, in France and the United Kingdom, even though such obligations stem from the same European legislation, i.e. the European Directive 2015/849 dated 20 May 2015 on money laundering?
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Film finance: how to finance your film production?
While at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2016, we could not help noticing that one of the hottest topics discussed by all film professionals in attendance was film finance, or lack thereof. Also, Crefovi film clients regularly ask for our input on this touchy subject. How to finance your film production nowadays? What are the best strategies to get your film funded and produced, in this day and age?
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Why it makes sense to invest in the creative industries and support them
While many fast-growth companies in the creative industries are currently the target of heavy private equity investments and a flurry of mergers and acquisitions, it makes sense, from a tax and financial standpoint, for individuals and corporate investors to go ‟long” on creative startups and SMEs.
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VAT refund and tax free shopping: how to make them even more lucrative for luxury brands?
Tax free shopping, in France alone, had a volume of around 4 billion Euros in 2012, progressing between 25 and 30 percent per year. As Chinese tourists spend around 80 percent of their shopping budget in Paris, in particular at ‟Les Galeries Lafayette” and ‟Printemps”, tax free shopping, also called VAT refund, is a bonanza for Paris-based luxury brands and department stores, as well as tax free providers such as Global Blue and Premier Tax Free.
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Business breakfast on fashion finance law on Tuesday 30 July 2013
We had a great time, on Tuesday 30 July 2013, during the business breakfast during which we presented our proprietary research on fashion finance.
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Financing luxury companies: the quest of the Holy Grail (not!)
The main characteristic of a luxury company is the importance of its brand’s value. This is by far the most crucial asset of a luxury business. It is due to the extreme concentration of intangibles that such brand embodies.
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Fashion business partnerships & investment: IP as a business asset
London fashion law firm Crefovi and Own-it, an institution which offers intellectual property advice for the creative sector, hosted a free webinar on ‟Fashion business partnerships and investment: IP as a business asset”, on 13 February 2013.
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Assessment of the development of fund supermarkets in France
A new profession has recently appeared, consisting of promoters and distributors of funds on the internet. Within this profession, fund supermarkets in France consist of platforms for the sale of UCITS units and securities. The description of these fund supermarkets, and their regulatory and legislative framework, internal and in the European Union, deserves some development.
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Failure to comply with the obligation to cover stock market transactions
Lack of responsibility for the intermediary in the event of failure to inform an informed investor about the risks inherent in transactions on the futures markets and following failure to call for hedging. The lowdown from Crefovi, banking and finance law firm, on the failure to comply with the obligation to cover stock market transactions.
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Stock options and luxury: a realistic combination?
Since the beginning of the 1990s, listed companies specializing in the luxury and fashion sector have largely favored the subscription of stock options by their CEOs, their artistic directors and all. other employee occupying top management positions. Thus, according to Option Finance, the remunerations of the two CEOs of LVMH and L'Oréal in 2001 were among the highest of all those of the presidents of CAC 40 companies, with a total remuneration of 15,381,585 Euros for LVMH (including 2,597,906 Euros in salary and 12,783,679 Euros in stock options) and 21,264,124 Euros for L'Oréal (including 5,552,315 Euros in salary and 15,711,809...
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IFLR banking yearbook 2003
Crefovi published this interview in the ‟special banking” supplement from International Financial Law Review (‟IFLR”) in 2003 (IFLR banking yearbook). This article summarises the state of banking and finance regulations that apply to financial services companies and banks in France, in 2003.
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Should we legislate on the activity of financial analysts?
For several months, the French legislator and professional organisations have been working to tighten up financial analysis. The finance and banking law firm Crefovi answers the following questions. Is a more restrictive regulation vis-à-vis the people disseminating and publishing financial analysis really necessary? How compatible would these future rules be with international standards?
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The Gucci PPR alliance: an example of the application of the regulations on public takeover bids
The Gucci Group (‟Gucci”) Pinault Printemps Redoute (‟PPR”) alliance is based on a well-known hostile takeover bid, which was played out by applying the regulations on Public Takeover Bids (‟PTB”) to the advantage of PPR, riveting the pawn to its rival Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (‟LVMH”).
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Liability regime of the banker drawing a forged bank check
This judgment of the commercial chamber of the ‟Cour de cassation” dated 11 February 2003 provides important details on the liability of the banker drawing a forged bank check, when the amount indicated on this check is falsified after the creation of this payment instrument.
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Bonds with share warrants and luxury: the use of bonds with share warrants in the luxury sector
London-based fashion law firm Crefovi publishes exclusive research relating to the hostile takeover of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (“LVMH”) by Bernard Arnault. While the biography of Bernard Arnault entitled ‟The exterminating angel” appears, it is interesting to study the legal mechanism which enabled this astute businessman to appropriate, more than ten years ago, the control of LVMH. Do OBSA and luxury go hand in hand?
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