François-Guilhem Vaissier has extensive experience in structuring, developing, and financing major energy transition, energy security, and infrastructure projects on a global scale. He is an award-winning lawyer whose practice focuses on the transactional and regulatory issues of international projects (including design, construction, operation, and maintenance).
François-Guilhem leads large venture projects in France (high-speed railways, motorways, road tunnels, co-generation plants, onshore and offshore wind farms, and luxury hotel refurbishments), Europe (hydropower and solar plants, underwater tunnels, and wastewater concessions), Africa (hydropower plants, aluminum smelter, cogeneration plants, railways, cement plants, toll roads, mining concessions, and pipelines), Asia (the first public-private partnership for a metro project in India), and the Middle East (metro, airport, real estate development, and financing).
Many of the matters François-Guilhem worked on have been awarded "best deal" honors by leading legal publications, such as the Dakar toll motorway in Senegal, the HKB toll bridge in Abidjan (Ivory Coast), a cogeneration power plant located in Ivory Coast, two hydropower projects in Gabon, and the longest high-speed railway concession in France.
In addition, he recently represented a major U.S. energy company in the negotiation of a new production sharing contract related to a very significant hydrocarbon asset in Algeria, a landmark transaction. He also advised a joint venture on a large-scale green hydrogen and green ammonia project in Egypt.
François-Guilhem wrote and coordinated the French chapter of the first nine editions of The Public Private Partnership Law Review. He teaches at the University of Paris Nanterre's diploma in transitional energy law, investment law, and international arbitration.
Erfahrung
The following represents experience acquired prior to joining Jones Day.
Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière (SNIM): assisted in the US$710 million multisourced financing (including Islamic finance, as well as export credit agency and a development bank financing) for the expansion of the Guelb II mine and the construction of a new ore carrier port in Nouadhibou, Mauritania and assisted in the development of a mining asset located in Mauritania with the Turkish company Tosyali.
Agence Nationale d'Aménagement des Infrastructures Minières (ANAIM), Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC), Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG), and Compagnie de Bauxite et d'Alumine de Dian-Dian (COBAD): assisted in a multi-user operation agreement for a mining railway between the port at Kamsar and bauxite mines at Sangaredi in the Republic of Guinea.
Lenders: assisted the lenders on the project financing of the Tri-K gold project in Guinea.
Ivanhoe: assisted in the power sourcing and transmission of several mines and assisted in the Nimba iron ore project.
Vale: assisted in the transnational mining transportation corridor project in Malawi and Mozambique.
BHP: worked on the analysis of anti-bribery regulations applicable to mining activities in several African civil law jurisdictions and assisted in the financing, sourcing, design, construction operation, and maintenance of an aluminum smelter.
"Very efficient, very responsive, and has very good knowledge of the energy sector, especially for international operations."The Legal 500 EMEA
- Paris Bar School (CAPA 2004); University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (J.D. with a special focus on Business Law 2003); Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) (Master's in Economics and Finance 2001)
- Paris
Chambers Global: "he is great, every day he is doing an amazing job and defends our interests"
The Legal 500 EMEA: "responsive, flexible when it comes to find accurate solutions to close a deal, very smart and experienced"
Jeune Afrique magazine: named "Project Finance Lawyer of the Year"; named multiple times among the 100 most influential business lawyers in French-speaking Africa in its "100 Legal Powerlist"
- English, French, German, and Italian