Violette Grac-Aubert

Senior Associate at Linklaters

September 2015 - Present • Paris, France

Recent significant matters in which I was involved include: - Advising Peugeot on its merger with Fiat, creating the 4th largest automotive manufacturer in the world. - Advising Peugeot on its acquisition of Opel, creating the second largest player in Europe, which was notified and cleared by the European Commission as well as in more than a dozen jurisdictions around the world; this transaction included the acquisition, together with BNP, of Opel’s banking business, which triggered separate merger filings in a number of jurisdictions including the European Commission - Advising Sanofi in a high profile swap operation of its Animal Health business, lodged with its subsidiary Merial, for Boehringer’s Consumer Health Care. This matter was nominated to receive the “Matter of the Year” award at the GCR Awards 2017 - Advising Marilyn Agency in the framework of an investigation of the French Competition Authority (FCA) in the market for model agencies regarding price fixing practice, involving nearly all market players as well as the professional federation, and in related appeal proceedings against the FCA decision. On appeal, she helped to secure a reduction by half of Marilyn’s fine imposed by the FCA - Representing Peugeot and its subsidiary Gefco in the framework of an FCA investigation against courier companies and professional federation suspected of collusion on tariff increases and on the creation of a fuel surcharge, and in related appeal proceedings against the FCA decision - Advising a pharmaceutical company regarding a joint venture on antitrust issues relating to the codevelopment and co-commercialisation of a new vaccine.