Jacques Iffland Partner, Head of Capital Markets
Dr. iur., Attorney at Law

Jacques Iffland

Partner, Head of Capital Markets
Dr. iur., Attorney at Law
+41 58 450 70 00
jacques.iffland@lenzstaehelin.com
Geneva
Route de Chêne 30
CH-1211 Geneva
www.lenzstaehelin.com
  • Expertise

    Jacques Iffland is a partner specialising in corporate law, securities regulation and M&A, with a focus on transactions involving public companies. He is authorised to represent issuers before the SIX Swiss Exchange and is chair of the Capital Markets and Technology Association.

    In recent years, Jacques has advised, among others, the following clients:

    – The investor group comprised of NewGAMe, an investment vehicle controlled by Rock Investment, a subsidiary of NJJ Holding, the personal holding company of Mr. Xavier Niel, and Bruellan, an independent provider of global wealth management solutions, in the successful takeover of GAM Holding, the SIX-listed global asset management firm

    – JBF Finance SA in its CHF 600 million public tender offer for all publicly held shares of SIX-listed Bobst Group SA, the parent company of Bobst, one of the world's leading suppliers of substrate processing, printing and converting equipment

    – Edizione, one of Europe's leading industrial holding companies and wholly owned by the Benetton family, on the integration between Autogrill and Dufry to create a global company in food & beverage and retail services for travellers

    – SCCF Structured Commodity & Corporate Finance, a Swiss-based trade finance company, in the first issuance of digitalised (tokenised) short-term notes used to refinance commodity trading activities

    – ObsEva, a listed biopharmaceutical company developing and commercialising novel therapies for women’s health, in the company's equity and debt financing activities and in its debt restructuring operations

    – Immosynergies Holding Sàrl and its owner Mr. Olivier Plan on the sale and contribution of its real estate portfolio and development activities to Allreal Holding AG, the Swiss SIX-listed real estate investment company, for a net consideration of approximately CHF 400 million

    – Swissquote, the online bank, on the creation of 'Yuh', a digital neobanking application developed as part of a joint venture with PostFinance, and the creation of the bank's crypto-exchange SQX

    – Cartier, part of Richemont, together with LVMH and the Prada Group on the creation of the Aura Blockchain Consortium, a Swiss association based in Geneva, which operates the first global blockchain solution dedicated to the luxury industry

    – Richemont on the issuance of tradable shareholder warrants, listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and distributed to the shareholders of the company as part of a loyalty scheme intended to allow shareholders to benefit from a potential upside of the price of Richemont's 'A' shares, once the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic had been overcome

    – The Frère and Desmarais families in the CHF 3.3 billion public exchange offer and subsequent freeze-out merger of the Swiss industrial holding company Pargesa.

  • Practices

  • Professional Experience and Education

    and Education

    Jacques studied law at the University of Lausanne, where he obtained a bachelor's
    degree in 1992 and a doctorate in 1994 for a thesis on the criminal prosecution of share
    price manipulation. After a two-year traineeship in a Lausanne law firm, he was admitted
    to the bar in 1996. From 1997 to 2001, he worked as a legal adviser to the Swiss Stock
    Exchange Regulatory Commission and its successor organisation, the Swiss Federal
    Takeover Board. He joined Lenz & Staehelin in 2001 and became a partner in 2007.
  • Specialist Areas

    Corporate and M&A, Public Takeovers, Capital Markets, Securities Regulation
  • Languages

    French, English, German
  • Memberships

    Geneva Bar Association (OdA), Swiss Bar Association (FSA), Société Genevoise de Droit et de Législation (SGDL)
  • SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

    • Iffland Jacques, Huynh Dac Vincent, Identification des actionnaires, restrictions de transfert et « white listings » La tenue du registre des actions à l'ère de la digitalisation, de la lutte contre le blanchiment et des sanctions internationales, in: SZW/RSDA, 3/2023, 335-347
    • Iffland Jacques, Commentaire des articles 683 ss du Code des obligations, in: Nobel/Müller (eds), Berner Kommentar, Das Aktienrecht/Kommentar der ersten Stunde, Berne 2023
    • Iffland Jacques, La tokenisation des valeurs mobilières - La nouvelle frontière du marché des capitaux, Droit et économie numérique, CEDIDAC, April 2021, 61-80
    • Iffland Jacques, Ben Hattar Ariel, Central Securities Depositaries in the Age of Tokenized Securities, in: CapLaw, Swiss Capital Markets Law, Regulatory, April 2020, 22-27
    • Iffland Jacques, Acceptation de dépôts du public, émission d’obligations et ICO, in: GesKR (Gesellschafts- und Kapitalmarktrecht) 3/2019, 459-465
    • Iffland Jacques, Tokenised securities are now possible under Swiss law, in: Swissquote Magazine, n°2 May 2019, 64-65
    • Iffland Jacques, Läser Alessandra D., Die Tokenisierung von Effekten - Ein neuer Weg an den Kapitalmarkt, in: GesKR (Gesellschafts- und Kapitalmarktrecht) 4/2018, 415-423
    • Diem Hans-Jakob, Iffland Jacques, View beyond the Rim of the Plate. Pitfalls for Issuers with Cross-Border Listings., Going Public Magazine, Capital Market Switzerland 2018, October 2018, 2021
    • Iffland Jacques, Ben Hattar Ariel, Activists - The investors Switzerland loves to hate, in: The Lawyer, Briefings, April 2018
    • Iffland Jacques, Activisme actionnarial : Minder a-t-il ouvert la porte de la bergerie ?, in Agefi, July 2017
    • Iffland Jacques, Répression des infractions boursières - De la prohibition de la tromperie vers celle de l'abus de faiblesse, in Vuille/Oberholzer/Graf (ed.), Vérité, tromperie et mensonge, Groupe Suisse de Criminologie (GSC), volume 33, Bern 2016, 163-174
    • Iffland Jacques, Ben Hattar Ariel, Les Systèmes organisés de négociation, in: GesKR 4/2016, p. 458-469
    • Iffland Jacques, Nouvelles règles en matière de publicité des participations : conséquences pour l'industrie de la gestion d’actifs et des fonds, in: GesKR (Gesellschafts- und Kapitalmarktrecht), 4/2015, 525-531
    • Iffland Jacques, Publicité des participations et principe de légalité - Mythe ou réalité ?, in: SZW/RSDA, 3/2015, p. 226-238
    • Tschäni Rudolf, Diem Hans-Jakob, Iffland Jacques, Gaberthüel Tino, Öffentliche Kaufangebote, 3rd edition, Zurich 2014
    • Iffland Jacques, Les procédures d’enforcement de la FINMA, ou de la difficulté de coordonner les procédures coercitives administratives et les procédures pénales sous l’empire du nouveau CPP et de la LFINMA, in: Thévenoz/Bovet (eds.), Journée 2010 de droit bancaire et financier, Zurich 2011
    • Iffland Jacques, Diem Hans-Jakob, De la prohibition des conditions potestatives à celle des conditions inéquitables, in: Oertle/Wolf/Breitenstein/Diem (eds.), M&A - Recht und Wirtschaft in der Praxis, Liber Amicorum for Rudolf Tschäni, Zurich 2010, 251-264
    • Iffland Jacques, Acquisition de sociétés de famille cotées en bourse, in: Pierre Marty (ed.), Fusions et acquisitions: questions actuelles, Publication CEDIDAC no. 81, Lausanne 2009, 1 et seq.
    • Iffland Jacques, Le rachat d'actions propres - Ce que le projet de révision du droit de la société anonyme prévoit de changer, in: GesKR (Gesellschafts- und Kapitalmarktrecht), special edition, 2008, 52-54
    • Iffland Jacques, OPA hostiles: le combat est-il équitable?, in: Journée 2007 de droit bancaire et financier, Zurich 2008, 59-78
    • Iffland Jacques, Gilliard N., Les nouvelles règles en matière de publicité des participations importantes, in: GesKR (Gesellschafts- und Kapitalmarktrecht), 2/2007, 365-384
    • Iffland Jacques, Secret Swiss Stake-Building with CFDs, in: Professional Investor, December 2006/January 2007, 20-22
    • Rötheli Andreas, Iffland Jacques, La décotation, in: SZW/RSDA 4/2004, 305-322
    • Iffland Jacques, Groupes et actions de concert dans la loi sur les bourses, in: Journée 2003 de droit bancaire et financier, Zurich 2004, 143-174
    • Iffland Jacques, Opérations d'initiés ou exploitation abusive d'informations privilégiées? Le temps de choisir, in: De Lege Ferenda - Etudes pour le Professeur Alain Hirsch, Geneva 2004, 313-320
    • Iffland Jacques, La notion de manipulation de cours illicite après l'arrêt Fondation F. et l'entrée en vigueur de l'article 161bis du code pénal, in: Journée 1997 de droit bancaire et financier, Bern 1997, 67-82
    • Iffland Jacques, La répression pénale des manipulations de cours en droit suisse - Etude critique du projet de réglementation fédérale et du droit pénal fédéral positif, Collection juridique romande, Lausanne 1994
  • Other Activities

    • Jacques is a member of the Independent Appeals Body of the SIX Swiss Exchange. He is also a member of the board of editors of the Swiss Review of Business and Financial Market Law, one of Switzerland's leading legal publications. He also chairs the Capital Markets and Technology Association, a Geneva-based association of representatives from the banking, technology and legal industries, whose aim is to promote the use of new technologies in the capital markets.
  • Contact Details

  • Assistant

  • Other Activities

    • Jacques is a member of the Independent Appeals Body of the SIX Swiss Exchange. He is also a member of the board of editors of the Swiss Review of Business and Financial Market Law, one of Switzerland's leading legal publications. He also chairs the Capital Markets and Technology Association, a Geneva-based association of representatives from the banking, technology and legal industries, whose aim is to promote the use of new technologies in the capital markets.