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Roland Montfort

Roland Montfort

Partner

Paris

T: +33 (0) 1 44 17 76 80

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Biography

Roland is a partner in the M&A and Corporate Finance group in our Paris office, where he advises French and multinational companies on their domestic and cross-border transactions. He is licensed by the Paris, Brussels and New York bars.

Roland has significant experience in the structuring, negotiation and implementation of M&A and corporate transactions, joint ventures, corporate financing, restructuring schemes, multi-country business reorganization as well as carve-outs and spin-offs. He has led deals for clients active in various business sectors including aerospace & defense, automotive, food & agribusiness other heavy industries, TMT (technology, media and telecom), health care and life sciences. His clients range from large to mid-cap and small enterprises, financial institutions and investment funds.

Roland also has extensive experience in advising clients on commercial contracts, including a variety of supply chain legal issues whether at the drafting, negotiation or implementation stages. He is praised by his US industrial clients for his advice and counsel regarding their French operations. Furthermore, Roland is a regular author of articles on legal issues in the defense industry.

In relation to ESG, Roland is involved in French and EU ESG reporting and due diligence requirements (including the Non-Financial Reporting Directive, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive/Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, Sustainable Financial Disclosure Regulation and EU Taxonomy). He regularly advises large US and UK-based corporate clients. Further, he provides ESG training programs to clients, including from a supply/value chain perspective. His team is also engaged in regulatory mapping across the EU, with regular connections with our firm's US, UK and German legal teams.

Roland is listed as "Notable Practitioner" in the Chambers and Partners Crisis & Risk Management Guide: Global-wide: 2025 for ESG Risk (Law Firms).

Roland began his legal career at the global US law firms, Coudert Brothers and Weil Gotshal, before becoming head of the M&A practice at Lefèvre Pelletier & Associés, then managing partner at Morgan Lewis. Before joining BCLP, he spent 7 years at EY Law, as one of the transaction law leaders for Europe West and global lead for Consumer Products & Retail. Roland has also been seconded to Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan in 1996-1997 and led the EY Law US Central desk from Chicago in 1999-2020.

Civic Involvement & Honors

  • In 2026, the French M&A team was awarded a Gold Award by Décideurs (Sommet du Droit) in the M&A category for transactions between €75M and €500M.
  • Ranked "Excellent" in "M&A : Operations worth between between €75m & €500m" by Décideurs 2025.
  • Ranked in the category "M&A" in Legal 500 France 2025.
  • Roland Montfort, recognized by Best Lawyers: The Best Lawyers in France™ for Mergers and Acquisitions Law in Paris 2027 Edition

Admissions

  • Brussels
  • Paris
  • England & Wales (Registered Foreign Lawyer)
  • New York

Related Capabilities

  • M&A & Corporate Finance

  • Corporate

  • Food & Agribusiness

  • Retail & Consumer Products

  • Healthcare & Life Sciences

  • Energy Transition

  • ESG Governance, Compliance and Reporting

  • Aerospace & Defense

  • Strategic Alternatives & Corporate Reorganization

  • Regulation, Compliance & Advisory

Experience

Roland has been a legal adviser to:

  • A major French player in the aerospace and defense sector in connection with the acquisition of an engineering company in the United States

  • National Spanish Energy group  on the sale of its 100 per cent owned subsidiary to one of France’s leading property developer
  • A listed US aerospace & defence conglomerate  on its exit from the joint venture with a French listed company in the defence sector
  • A leading UK-based global, privately-owned loyalty platform developer on the sale of its high-performance loyalty technology platform to an investment fund based in Eastern Europe
  • Clients in various industry sectors including HCLS on EU ESG mandatory reporting and French foreign investment regulations
  • CapVest portfolio companies, Curium Pharma, Glo Healthcare and Calyx in various acquisitions and divestitures in the US, UK and Europe
  • a German industrial group in its acquisition of French aircraft seat manufacturer
  • a French automotive OEM in its acquisition of UK target
  • a French entertainment group in its acquisition of media company
  • a French luxury group in its acquisition of food retail chain
  • a French family property manager in its recapitalization
  • a global international lead adviser in the separation of United Technologies Corporation into 3 separate listed entities (84+ jurisdictions and 630 transactions in 15 months)
  • UTC in connection with its acquisition of Goodrich Corporation
  • UTC in connection with acquisition of French fire security business
  • UTC in its acquisition of Revima (an APU manufacturing business) from EADS
  • a US tech group undergoing a corporate reorganization after its acquisition by a French listed company (international lead of over 15 jurisdictions covered)
  • a Chinese sovereign investment fund in its acquisition of SGD bottling industrial assets
  • a French to US bank in connection with a USD 400M credit facility to listed French movie studio
  • Penske Media in connection with acquisition of French business from Condé Nast 
  • the French MOE and MOD for negotiations surrounding foreign investments in sensitive sectors
  • Hamilton Sundstrand in the divestiture of its industrial pumps business
  • a US investment fund in its acquisition of nuclear medicine business
  • Gentex in connection with its acquisition of UK military helmet business
  • Citibank in the safeguard proceedings of Eurotunnel group of entities
  • US investment fund in its acquisition of Chemical business from Clariant AG
  • aerospace supplier in its contracts with aircraft manufacturer
  • Toyota Boshoku in connection with the acquisition of car seat manufacturing plant from Faurecia
  • Toyota in connection with car sharing experimentation in Grenoble with EDF
  • Toyota Formula 1 team on key supply chain issue with independent French contractor
  • Toyota in connection with greenfield manufacturing plant in the North of France (Yaris Valenciennes plant)

Resources

Publications

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Regulatory and ESG challenges in the data centre sector: Building a sustainable future

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