Linklaters has advised BNP Paribas on the completion of its strategic agreement with Allfunds, a world-class independent leader in wealth technology. This agreement aims at building next-generation fund distribution services.
As part of this partnership, BNP Paribas Securities Services, a leading global custodian and fund services provider, will give its fund-buyer clients access to more than 2,000 fund houses and 100,000 funds[1] and a range of next generation fund analytics services from its new Fund@ccess platform, which is powered by Allfunds. The integration of fund buying processes between the two companies will also bring clients greater operational efficiency.
In addition, BNP Paribas will entrust Allfunds with the management of its distribution contracts with third-party investment funds, on behalf of the retail, wealth management, insurance and asset management businesses of the BNP Paribas Group.
As part of the agreement, around 250 employees have transferred from BNP Paribas Securities Services to Allfunds, mainly in Poland and Italy, contributing to Allfunds’ expansion.
BNP Paribas Securities Services and BNP Paribas Asset Management now hold together a strategic stake of 22.5% in Allfunds.
Linklaters was represented by a multidisciplinary team, comprising members from six countries (France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Poland and Luxembourg) led by Alain Garnier (Partner) and Louis Prades (Managing Associate) of the Corporate team in Paris, and included Maud Fillon and Jordan Jablonka (Associates) in the Paris Corporate team, Ngoc-Hong Ma (Counsel) and Emilie Rochat (Associate) in Regulatory, Sonia Cissé, TMT Counsel in Paris, as well as Anne Wachsmann (Partner) and Matthieu Blayney (Associate) for the Competition department. The Spanish team was led by Victor Manchado (Partner), Elena Rodriguez (Managing Associate) and Jaime Pelaez (Associate) of the Madrid office, the Italian team by Roberto Casati (Partner), Valentina Gariboldi (managing associate), Anna Ferraresso (Managing Associate) and Federica Barbero (Counsel) of the Milan office, the London team by Richard Cumbley (Partner) and Jordan Cliffe (Managing Associate) both from the TMT team in London and Emma Clark (Counsel) in Corporate in London, and the Polish teams by Monika Krzyszkowska-Dabrowska (Head of Employment practice).
The Corporate and M&A aspects were managed by the Legal-M&A team (Louis Philippe Vasconcelos, Axel Joly and Bertrand Colliot) of BNP Paribas. Louise Boddy and Sebastien Dussart supervised the issues specific to the BP2S business, with the support of BP2S EMEA’s legal teams.
