Carole Bodin

I work as partner in our Corporate Group, based in Paris, where I offer my extensive experience in mergers & acquisitions and venture capital.

I advise French and international corporations, investment funds and institutional investors on their M&A operations, I also assist corporate venture funds, investment funds and start-ups in their venture capital transactions.

I joined the corporate team in Paris in 2009, after passing the bar in both New York and Paris. Since joining Bird & Bird, I have assisted several of our clients in M&A transactions in the French infrastructure/utilities sector.

With respect to venture capital transactions, I have developed in particular a specific knowledge of the expectations a corporate venture fund may have when it invests in an innovative company. To develop this practice, I can rely on the skills of various other practice groups in Paris whose expertise matter with respect to the activities of these innovative companies (IP, IT, Data Protection). In addition, I have expertise in general corporate matters, from joint ventures and asset sales to corporate restructuring.

Advising very diverse clients on their corporate transactions allows me to know more about their business and the history behind each of their entrepreneurial ventures, which is what I enjoy the most about my job.

• Advising Infravia Capital Partners on the sale of their stake in Regaz Bordeaux, the largest French independent gas distribution company.
• Advising Sodexo in the context of the acquisition of a majority stake of Foodchéri, a start-up specialising in the catering and delivery of healthy meals, and of the reinvestment within the company.
• Advising Sodexo SA in its investment (minority stake) through Sodexo Ventures in Thematic Groupe (Wynd), a French start-up which has developed a platform allowing for management and digitalisation of physical points of sale.
• Advising Infravia Capital Partners within the scope of the acquisition of 100% of Ocea Smart Building, leader in the sector of smart metering systems, formerly a subsidiary of the Suez group.
• Advising SPI, an investment fund managed by BPIfrance Investissements, in the setting up, together with the AFM-Téléthon group, of the first French pharmaceutical industrial player dedicated to the production of cellular and gene therapies for rare diseases, Yposkesi.