COFFRA, Paris . Success Stories
Support for an American Acquisition in France
Plante & Moran Corporate Finance in Detroit (PMCF) was looking for a firm of consultants in France for one of its customers, the US-based Cignet Group, to help it finalize the acquisition of an assembly plant in the Lorraine dedicated to the production of systems for the automotive industry.
PMCF contacted COFFRA to bring this assignment to a successful conclusion. Two days later, Cignet’s senior management received the Business & Taxation in France guide, a guidebook recently entirely rewritten by COFFRA, for an initial presentation of France. The following week, a COFFRA partner accompanied representatives from Cignet and PMCF on a tour of the assembly plant to learn more about the assignment and explain the specific characteristics of the French regulatory environment.
As the company selling the factory was German, and the Cignet manager himself of German origin, the involvement of COFFRA—which very frequently operates in the Franco-German market— offered an additional advantage considering that discussions could be carried out indifferently in French, English or German.
COFFRA subsequently carried out the financial audit of the target
facility, working at all times in liaison with senior staff at PMCF
and Cignet, and brought in a tax consultant to advise the buyer
on what structure to set up when assuming control of the factory.
The acquisition was finalized at the end of the year, and COFFRA
has been appointed statutory auditor of the freshly created company
in France.
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