Founded in Paris in 1920, Gide is a leading international law firm with 12 offices spread throughout the world.
Gide is physically present in six regions of the world, with 11 offices, enabling it to act on cases globally.
10 November 2020
Appointment | EU | France | Tax
Gide is pleased to announce the arrival of Paul de France as partner in its Paris office.
Prior to joining Gide, Paul worked for major international law firms and most recently served as Deputy Tax Director of the Casino Group, one of the world's leading food retail companies. He notably oversaw and implemented the tax aspects of its asset disposal plan, announced by the group in 2018 and 2019 (EUR 4.5 billion of assets sold).
Ten years after having started his career at Gide, as a trainee and then as an associate, Paul now returns to the firm. His extensive experience in transactional tax, particularly in private equity transactions, will strengthen the firm's tax practice. In particular, he will aim to develop the practice dedicated to assisting corporate directors and founders alongside the team led by Jean-François Louit and Caroline Lan.
Gide has developed a leading tax practice in areas including corporate restructurings and business combinations, real estate taxation, assistance with audits and litigation, international tax law, financial taxation, property taxation and criminal tax law.
Gide has now more than 17 lawyers specialising in tax law in Paris, including six dedicated partners, making it one of the largest and most recognised teams available in France to assist clients with their tax matters.
Xavier de Kergommeaux and Stéphane Puel, Gide's senior and managing partners, said: "We are delighted to welcome Paul de France to our partnership, 10 years on from his early days at the firm as a trainee and associate. Paul's arrival will allow us to advance in our aims of providing support to executive teams and developing our private equity offering. It also ties in with our belief that the careers of private practice lawyers and in-house counsels are mutually beneficial. Combining law firm culture and corporate experience at the highest level, the career path of this tax specialist is a real asset for Gide."
Paul de France added: "I would like to thank Xavier, Stéphane and all of the partners for their confidence. I am extremely pleased to be joining a top-tier firm, in particular its Executives team, and help it meet new opportunities that will undoubtedly be created."
Admitted to the Paris Bar in 2009, Paul de France (36) is a transactional tax specialist, particularly as regards the tax structuring of LBO and M&A transactions. He has been involved in a number of major transactions, both on the investor and executive sides, such as Charterhouse with respect to its investments in the Comexposium, Cooper and Sagemcom groups; Eurazeo in the acquisition of Grape Hospitality; and the executive teams in the Rubix (formerly IPH) and But transactions. As Deputy Tax Director of the Casino group (2018-2020), he contributed to the implementation of several real estate disposals (Monoprix), disposals of the R2C, Vindemia and Leader Price subsidiaries, and BPI and Tikehau Capital's investment in GreenYellow. Paul also assisted in the reorganisation of the group's scope and operations in Latin America.
Paul de France also held associate roles within Gide, EY's New York and Paris offices (2010-2013), and then in the tax team of Mayer Brown's Paris office (2013-2018).
He is a graduate of Paris-Dauphine University (Master's in Corporate Taxation, 2007) and holds a Diplôme Supérieur de Comptabilité et de Gestion (DSCG, formerly DESCF, 2006).
