Slaughters' best friends lead French supermarket spin off

French independent De Pardieu Brocas Maffei is advising the Carrefour group on the legal and tax structuring of the transfer to Carrefour Property of the group’s operating real estate assets and the subsequent distribution of 25 per cent of Carrefour Property’s shares to shareholders.

The De Pardieu team includes tax partners Emmanuel Chauve and Marie-Laure Bruneel alongside corporate specialists Thierry Brocas and Nicolas Favre.

Bredin Prat partners Didier Martin, Benjamin Kanovitch and Emmanuel Masset are also advising Carrefour. Their focus is on corporate governance and lease-related issues, supported by French boutique Lacourte Balas & Associés.

Both Bredin Prat and De Pardieu have acted for Carrefour on previous transactions.

The deal will see the grouping of Carrefour’s French, Spanish and Italian real estate assets within the newly created Carrefour Property. The new entity will hold €10.4bn in assets. Carrefour plans to retain a 75 per cent stake in Carrefour Property.

The deal is subject to a shareholder vote at Carrefour’s AGM in June.