Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised France’s Groupe Maisons de Famille, a leading European services provider for the elderly, on the establishment of its partnership with Ceetrus and Nhood, both owned by the Mulliez family (Association Familiale Mulliez) and aiming to transform real estate and retail to improve people’s lives.
With this partnership, Ceetrus now holds a minority stake of approximately 40% of the capital in the real estate branch of Groupe Maisons de Famille through a capital investment of up to €60m. Groupe Maisons de Famille, remaining fully independent operationally, now benefits from Nhood’s expertise in the management of its real estate assets.
Founded in 2003, Groupe Maisons de Famille is a European leader in the retirement home sector with 11,000+ employees and over 160 retirement complexes and services across France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The group looks after over 15,000 residents and patients, and aims to strengthen its offering and geographic footprint to become a key player in the silver economy.
Impact property investor Ceetrus targets retail assets and mixed-use urban renewal projects with the aim of accelerating the transition of cities. It has a €9bn+ real estate asset portfolio comprising approximately 300 commercial sites and 50 development projects covering circa 20 million sq. metres in 11 countries.
Nhood is a French real estate services company that manages, develops and transforms existing sites into new living spaces with a focus on sustainability.
The multidisciplinary WFW Paris team that advised Groupe Maisons de Famille was led by Partners Romain Girtanner and Guillaume Pouyet. They were assisted by Associates Arnaud Bourdelat, Mohamed Douib and Thibaut de Toytot on corporate matters, as well as by Counsel Hélène Ibos and Associate Maximilian Cristescu on tax law. Partner Cyrille Gogny-Goubert and Associate Kodou Diouf advised on the real estate law aspects of the transaction.
A team from Rothschild & Co led by Antoine Paris acted as Groupe Maisons de Famille’s financial advisor.
Ceetrus was advised by Nhood and law firm De Pardieu Brocas Maffei.
