International law firm Bird & Bird has advised greentech company Afyren on its initial public offering (IPO) on Euronext Growth Paris. The IPO consists of a primary offering of approximately €66.5 million, which may be increased to approximately €72.8 million if the overallotment option is exercised in full. The transaction is the first French Tech120 IPO outside of the Next40.
Afyren, a greentech company founded in 2012 by Nicolas Sordet and Jérémy Pessiot, offers innovative solutions for replacing petroleum-based ingredients with non-food biomass products, in line with a circular, low-carbon economy approach. Using natural micro-organisms, Afyren’s solutions help produce seven entirely bio-sourced organic acids.
The Bird & Bird team consisted of Carole Bodin and Emmanuelle Porte (partners) and Jasmine Javault and Céline Sol (associates) for the stock exchange and capital markets aspects.
For due diligence, Afyren was advised by Anne-Charlotte Le Bihan (partner), and for the intellectual property aspects by Enora Baron and Sarah Gicquel (associates). Nathalie Devernay (partner) advised on the employment matters, Alexandre Vuchot (partner) on the commercial aspects and Benjamin Lichtlé (partner) on the tax issues.
Berenberg and Portzamparc acted as joint global coordinators, joint lead managers, and joint bookrunners in the offering, and were advised by Cleary Gottlieb. Lazard Frères acted as financial advisor.
