Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier assists Octave Klaba (OVHcloud) in the acquisition of Blade’s assets in France and the United States

Paris, May 6^th, 2021

Following a bidding process confronting Octave Klaba, founder of OVHcloud, and Xavier Niel, founder of Free, the Paris Commercial Court selected on April 30^th, 2021 the offer of Octave Klaba presented by hubiC for the takeover of the French assets of the fintech Blade pursuant to a judicial sale process. This offer included the acquisition of Blade’s cloud computing technology as well as the takeover of almost all its employees with a commitment to invest more than thirty million euros subscribed by Octave Klaba, through his investment vehicle Jezby Ventures, and by his brother Miroslaw Klaba, through his company Deep Code. The acquisition was structured by the submission of two takeover bids in France and in the United States, within the framework of two insolvency proceedings with a redressement judiciaire before the Paris Commercial Court in France and a chapter 11 proceeding before the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California in the United States. Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier advised Octave Klaba and hubiC with François Kopf and Mathieu Della Vittoria (partners), Colin Marvaud and Martin Lodéon (associates in restructuring) and Christophe-Marc Juvanon (associate in corporate). hubiC was also advised by law firm Greenberg Traurig on US aspects.

Law firms Lantourne & Associés and Franklin advised Xavier Niel and Scaleway. Blade was advised by Bredin Prat in France and by Binder Malter in the United States. SELARL El-Baze-Charpentier, with Jonathan El-Baze, acted as administrateur judiciaire of Blade and SELARL Fides, with Bernard Corre, acted as mandataire judiciaire.