Global law firm Freshfields advised Cinven on its exclusive negotiations for the acquisition of Artefact, a global provider of data and artificial intelligence (‘AI’) consulting services to large, blue-chip enterprises, from Ardian, one of the world’s leading private investment houses.

Established in 2014 and headquartered in Paris, Artefact empowers leading global businesses to navigate technological change and unlock the competitive advantages of data and AI-led transformation. Today the company employs more than 1,700 individuals in 31 offices across 25 countries.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

The Freshfields team was led by Nicolas Barberis and Julien Rebibo (Corporate/M&A, Paris) and included:

Partners: Aled Batey (Finance, London), Toby Bingley (Finance London), Charlotte Colin-Dubuisson (Competition, Paris), Martin J. McElwee (Competition, London), David Mendel (People and Reward, London), Giles Pratt (IP/IT, London), Marie Roche (Finance, Paris), Gwen Senlanne (People and Reward, Paris)

Counsel: Thomas Jeannin (Finance, Paris), Myriam Khetib-Khatiri (Corporate/M&A, Paris)

Senior Associates: Zofia Aszendorf (IP/IT, London), Terence Ayres (Finance, London), Elaine Pajeot (Competition, Paris)

Associates: Tomas-Joseph Brealey (Competition, London), Sarah Emile (Corporate/M&A, Paris), Ophélie Emprin (Finance, Paris), Vanessa Jiang (IP/IT, London), Nicole Looi (IP/IT, London), Joanna Ma (Finance, London), Eva Moore (People and Reward, London), Anne Reungoat (People and Reward, Paris), Rheya Shah (Competition, London), Brieuc Trambouze (Corporate/M&A, Paris), Jing Ye (Corporate/M&A, Paris)