Part of the familyx
We profile leading investment company and Key Client, Cobepa.
Our relationship with leading investment company Cobepa may have originated from a bit of good fortune, but it has since developed into one of our closest global partnerships.
When Cobepa asked the Firm to work on its upcoming acquisition of Carmeuse in 2003 it was only because their regular law firm, Linklaters, had a conflict of interest – a quirk of fate from which we’ve never looked back.
Global Relationship Partner Thierry Bosly explains: “I worked with Cobepa at Linklaters before moving to the Firm in 2003 so, when they realized they couldn’t work with Linklaters on this deal, they asked me if White & Case could help.”
Despite the fact Thierry was due to go on holiday with his family the following day, he stayed behind to launch the matter.
He says: “My wife didn’t divorce me (we’re still happily married), so it was definitely worth it! The deal went so well that Cobepa came back to us a few months later.”
Since then, our business with Cobepa has grown every year. “In fact,” explained Thierry, “in the past 15 years there have only been three deals they’ve not instructed us on, and two of those were in jurisdictions where we didn’t have offices.”
As the relationship has developed, White & Case moved from being viewed as legal experts to trusted advisors and, in recent years, trusted partners. Many partners were instrumental in that move and, in particular, John Reiss, Nathalie Colin, Muriel Alhadeff, Raphael Richard, François Leloup and Norbert Majerholc.
“We talk to them on a daily basis, are kept informed of everything they are doing, and they now come to us not only for legal services, but for advice and input on a diverse range of things.”
Thierry says: “We talk to them on a daily basis, are kept informed of everything they are doing, and they now come to us not only for legal services, but for advice and input on a diverse range of things.”
This tight relationship has been accelerated since Cobepa joined the Firm’s Key Client Program (KCP) two years ago. In 2017 we did more work for them than ever before, with the relationship worth more than $5.5M compared to our previous best of $4.9M in 2015. Even more impressively, we achieved this while significantly improving our margins.
Thierry says: “Cobepa’s inclusion in the KCP has added even more focus and has helped us continue to change what started out as a close business relationship between myself and their chief executive Jean-Marie Laurent Josi into a truly global relationship involving countless partners and associates across the world.
“I’d estimate that around 400 lawyers have worked on projects for Cobepa over the years and that our work has involved half our offices.”
To put that into context, we’re currently working on matters for Cobepa or their portfolio companies in Riyadh, Singapore, France and the US to name a few, and the strengthening of the relationship has also been aided by secondments.
Thierry explains: “Associate Aurélie Cautaerts recently completed a secondment for a Cobepa portfolio company in Madrid, while Partner Pontus Lindfelt has helped Cobepa set up an anti-trust and competition training program.
“Associate Tom Matthijs is also providing maternity cover for Cobepa’s General Counsel, Diane Verhaegen (who herself previously worked for the Firm as an associate).
“The potential for growth is exciting. In recent years Cobepa have started to instruct their portfolio companies to use us for their legal matters.”
“In addition, the son of Cobepa’s chief financial officer Xavier de Walque is currently completing a traineeship at our London office.”
It’s these close ties that are helping to take the relationship to the next level and Thierry is confident that the future is bright.
He says: “The potential for growth is exciting. In recent years Cobepa have started to instruct their portfolio companies to use us for their legal matters and, while we’ve already increased this type of work, there is room to deepen those relationships and get a larger share.
“But perhaps the most significant opportunity is for growth in the US, where we recently helped Cobepa successfully complete their first acquisition last year.
“When you consider that, in 2017, our US work for Cobepa accounted for around a fifth of our fee income, the scope to increase this as they continue their US growth plans is significant.
“If we can do this while maintaining and increasing our focus on the client and attention to detail, we will be on track to reach our ultimate goal, which is to make Cobepa a $10M client by 2020.”
