Bredin Prat advises Airbus as it signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Thales and Leonardo with a view to creating a new European player in the space industry bringing together the three group’s respective activities

Bredin Prat is advising Airbus, a global aerospace & defence company specialised in the design and manufacture of commercial aircraft, helicopters and space solutions, in connection with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Thales, a global leader in advanced technologies for the defence, aerospace and cybersecurity sectors, and Leonardo, an Italian industrial group active in aerospace, defence and security, aimed at combining their respective space activities within a new company.

Uniting the satellite production activities and related services of Airbus, Leonardo and Thales, would pave the way to creating a resilient European space player, with the ambition of reinforcing Europe’s strategic autonomy and increasing its global competitiveness, by harnessing the technological expertise and operational capacities of the three groups.

The project remains subject to customary conditions including regulatory clearances, with the new company expected to be operational in 2027.

The legal department of Airbus led by John Harrison, General Counsel & Head of Public Affairs, and the teams of Edouard Eltvedt, SVP Legal Corporate Affairs, including Loïc Amiand (Head of Legal M&A) and Elise Riaux for corporate law, and Laura Bellvert (Head of Competition Law) and Anne-Sophie Dalet for competition law, were advised by:

Bredin Prat, with the following team:

• Corporate: Benjamin Kanovitch and Clémence Fallet (partners), Paul Worms and Charles Saint-Gilles
• Competition Law: Igor Simic and Yelena Trifounovitch (partners), Sophie Troussard-Faure and Wenceslas Chelini (counsels), Paul Blin, Benoît Gerard, Sophie White, Quitterie Stein, Ines Kovacevic, Thomas Chevreteau, Astrid Becquet and Juliette Rousseau
• Tax law: Julien Gayral (partner), Simon Weber and Amaury de Galbert
• Digital Law and Intellectual Property: Juliette Crouzet (counsel), Sarah Gicquel and Timothée Guichoux
• Employment Law: Laetitia Tombarello (partner), Camille Wattrelos and Melchior Bebey