The Paris arms of leading New York firms Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom have won lead roles on one of the largest IPOs to hit the French market this year.

Clearys acted for the issuer, state-owned road company Autoroutes du Sud de la France (ASF), on the E2.4bn (£1.47bn) offering on the Paris Stock Exchange. The company is a new client for Clearys, secured through a beauty parade.

The IPO, priced on 27 March and first pitched in December, includes a Rule 144A placement for international investors. ASF offered E800m (£490m) in new shares in an issue underwritten by a consortium of banks led by Credit Lyonnais and HSBC CCF, which were represented by Skaddens.

The remainder were sold to Autoroutes de France, a French public administration agency. The deal means Autoroutes and the French Government hold just over 50% of ASF's share capital.

ASF oversees a wide motorway toll network, totalling 2,794km throughout southern France.

Clearys partners Andrew Bernstein and Robert Bordeaux-Groult led on the deal, with associates Nadia Aderkichi, Carole Brechot, Cecile Loiseau, Mary McLaughlin and Isabelle Simon assisting. London-based associate Kristofer Hess contributed on tax issues.

Skaddens' team was led by partner Pierre Servan-Schreiber, alongside partner-elect Eden Quainton and assistants David Rezcoleschi and Arash Attar.

The deal underlines the success of US firms in penetrating the French capital markets.

As one of the first US firms to enter the Paris legal market, Clearys has built a top-tier capital markets practice, in recent years handling major offerings for clients like France Telecom, Credit Lyonnais, Deutsche Telekom, Instinet Group and Lycos Europe.

Skaddens, which has invested heavily in its European law practice in the past two years, also has wide experience in IPOs and its clients include micro system company Memscat and the largest private hospital group in France, Generale de Sante.

Skaddens now has three partners based in Paris.
Clearys' Bernstein said: "It was interesting to work with the largest motorway concessionaire in France. This was the first time we have worked for ASF, but we have done many IPOs before."