Herbert Smith Freehills further boosts Paris Project Finance capability with the recruitment of Michaël Armandou as a partner

Global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills is pleased to announce the recruitment of Michaël Armandou to join its Paris office as a partner specialised in project finance. He will work within the Finance team and closely with the Projects and Corporate teams on the development of greenfield projects and the acquisition of assets in the infrastructure and energy sectors, especially with Partner Christophe Lefort, Paris head of Infrastructure.

Michaël Armandou joins the firm from Willkie Farr & Gallagher where he was a partner. He is a highly regarded legal practitioner, referenced in Chambers (“Up and Coming”) and Legal 500 (“Next Generation Partner”).

He specialises in project financing and project development in the infrastructure and energy sectors. He advises sponsors (industrial sponsors and infrastructure funds), lenders, institutional investors, governments and multilateral institutions in France and abroad, notably in Europe, Africa and Latin America, on the structuring, development and financing of their most complex projects. Over the past 16 years, Michaël advised on a large number of award winning “Deal of the Year” transactions in the port, road, rail, telecom and energy sector.  

Admitted to the Paris Bar in 2005, Michaël Armandou holds a Master's degree in Business Law from the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas, a Master's degree in International Trade Law from the University Paris-Descartes, and a LL.M from HEC in Paris.

Frédéric Bouvet, Managing Partner of the firm's Paris office, commented: "The recruitment of Michaël Armandou is part of the firm's strategy of growth. Michaël is a practitioner praised by his peers who will contribute to the achievement of the ambitions of our Paris office and more broadly of our global practice in the project finance, infrastructure and energy sectors. We are very pleased to count him among the partners of Herbert Smith Freehills."

Eric Fiszelson, Regional Head of Finance for EMEA, added: "We are delighted to welcome Michaël Armandou to the Finance team. The notable expertise he brings will enable us to further build out our infrastructure and energy offering to further support clients in Paris and across the wider network. Michaël brings outstanding expertise and skills that will be valuable to both our clients and the firm. Michaël is the second key project finance partner to be hired in the past six months, following the recruitment of partner Sarosh Mewawalla in Dubai. Together, these new partners reflect the importance of our Project Finance business to our infrastructure and energy sector clients."

Michaël Armandou concluded: "I am delighted to join Herbert Smith Freehills, a first class international law firm in the energy and infrastructure sectors, and to be able to work with such talented Finance, Corporate and Projects teams in Paris and within the network on the whole spectrum of transactions in an area where the market is booming. I look forward to strengthening the diversity of expertise already present in Paris that we make available to our clients and thus contributing to the firm's continued success."