Jacques Iffland
Partner, Head of Capital Markets
Dr. iur., Attorney at Law
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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 |
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Expertise
Dr. 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 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 have 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. -
Specialist Areas
Corporate and M&A, Public Takeovers, Capital Markets, Securities Regulation -
Practices
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Professional Experience and Education
and Education
2007 Partner at Lenz & Staehelin 2001 Joined Lenz & Staehelin 1997 Legal adviser with the Swiss Takeover Board 1996 Admission to Lausanne Bar 1994 University of Lausanne (Dr. iur.) 1992 University of Lausanne (lic. iur.) -
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, Commentaire des articles 683 ss du Code des obligations, in: Nobel/Müller (eds), Berner Kommentar, Das Aktienrecht/Kommentar der ersten Stunde, 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, La tokenisation des valeurs mobilières - La nouvelle frontière du marché des capitaux, in: Aktuelle Themen zur Notariatspraxis, 5. Schweizerischer Notariatskongress, 2020, 181-202
- 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 Listing., Going Public Magazine, Capital Market Switzerland 2018, October 2018, 20-21
- 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
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Contact Details
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Assistant
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Other Activities
- Member of the Independent Appeal Board of the SIX Swiss Exchange.
- Chairman of the CMTA (Capital Markets and Technology Association), a not-for-profit, non-governmental Swiss organization formed by leading actors from Switzerland's financial, technological, academic and legal sectors to facilitate the use of the blockchain technology in financial markets (www.cmta.ch).
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References
broad expertise and pragmatic approach
Chambers, 2021the right energy
Chambers, 2021Stand-out performer
Legal 500, 2019Stellar corporate practice
Who's Who Legal, 2019A very quick thinker, with very detailed subject knowledge
Chambers, 2018One of the top names in the market
Who’s Who Legal, 2018He offers advice that cuts through the complexities.
Chambers, 2019
Publications
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Commentaire des articles 683 ss du Code des obligations
in: Nobel/Müller (eds), Berner Kommentar, Das Aktienrecht/Kommentar der ersten Stunde, 2023