Romain Pichot | Partner

Romain Pichot is a partner of the firm who specialises in tax law. He advises French and international companies, investors and entrepreneurs in all their tax issues, strategic operations (acquisitions, disposals, partnerships, internal reorganisations and structuring projects, etc.) and day-to-day tax management.

Romain has developed a recognized sectoral expertise in financial services (insurance, banking, asset management), real estate transactions (investment, trading and development), energy (photovoltaic, thermal, tax incentive schemes) and innovation.

Academic and professional background

• Romain graduated from the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-graduate degree in Business Law, 1997), and from the Institution d’Administration des Entreprises de Paris – (Post-graduate degree in Business Administration, 1999).
• Prior joining Cazals Manzo Pichot Saint Quentin, Romain was a partner at Courtois Lebel, co-heading the tax department. Romain also worked at Allen & Overy and served for more than ten years as in- house tax advisor in French financial institutions (Paribas, BNP Paribas, Natixis).

Professional associations

Member of the Institut des Avocats Conseils Fiscaux (IACF) and of the IAE alumni association (real estate club).

Awards

• Romain Pichot is recognised as an ‘expert in corporate tax’, ‘very available and responsive’. His has ‘very solid and reliable analysis’ and he ‘finds extremely relevant solutions’ (The Legal 500, 2020-2021).
• Romain Pichot is ranked by Chambers & Partners as a leading tax lawyer in France.
• Romain Pichot is appreciated for ‘his reactivity and his excellent relationship skills’.
• Romain Pichot “displays a strong understanding of tax issues” (The Legal 500, 2018).

Recent transactional activity:

• Advising Groupe Rougnon upon its 4th LBO
• Advising the managers on the sale of Recocash from IK Invest to Qualium
• Advising the managers on the sale of Groupe Louis Tellier from Ui Invest to Sparring Capital
• Advising a radiology group on the sale of their medical practice to Simago, the first group of integrated medical imaging and radiology practices in France
• Advising iM Global Partner on the welcoming of two new investors, IK Investment and Luxempart, the exit of the consortium Dassault- Cobepa – La Maison, the financing of the investment programme by Barings and the acquisition of Litmann Gregory, a Californian asset and wealth management specialist
• Acquisition of LARS, a company specialising in artificial ligaments, by the Chinese investment fund Huaxing Health Care
• Acquisition of Koden group held by its competitor C’Pro group and financing of the transaction
• Advising the Hobie Cat group, a specialist in the design and production of sailing and surfing equipment
• Advising Onepoint on the acquisition of Weave, sold by NI Partners, and financing of the transaction
• Advising Fiducial on its strategic partnership with Prosegur
• Advising the investment fund EMZ on the purchase of Weyou, a trade show specialist
• Acquisition of a minority stake in Keys AM by the investment fund Naxicap

Real estate taxation:

• Advising Red Blue upon the acquisition of the building 12 rue de la Paix in JV with Crédit Suisse
• Advising Picture AM on several acquisitions
• Advising Barn on the deployment of its hotel concept
• Advising Korean investors on the sale of SANOFI’s headquarter to the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund Norges Bank
• Advising Alcatel Submarine Network for the negotiation of commercial leases
• Advising the Agence France Presse for the strategic analysis of its operating real estate

Litigation :

• Assisting a French group in a dispute relating to the determination of the 95% threshold for tax consolidation in the presence of cross-shareholdings
• Representation of several French and Anglo-Saxon banks in a dispute concerning the computation of foreign tax credits arising from stock lending and similar transactions
• Assistance to an Anglo-Saxon trustee suspected of complicity in fraud and money laundering
• Representing an insurance company in the application of the Steria case law to dividends distributed by subsidiaries established outside the EU
• Advising a French bank in a dispute relating to the right to carry forward foreign tax credits in loss- making periods
• Representation of an insurance company before the judicial courts in a dispute relating to the tax on insurance conventions