Guillaume P. Blanc

Guillaume P. Blanc is an Executive at ENS in the Project Development and Project Finance practice. His practice focuses on Infrastructure Law, specialising in project acquisition, development and finance, as well as energy, utilities, mining and petroleum law.

Guillaume has gained more than 20 years of experience in law firms in Africa (South Africa and Mauritius), Europe (London and Paris) and the Asia-Pacific (Sydney, Perth and a secondment in Shanghai).

He has advised clients in developing markets on the acquisition, financing and development of energy, water, oil, gas and mining projects across many jurisdictions, in particular Latin America (French Guiana, Brazil), Europe (France, Spain and Luxembourg), Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Guinea, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, DRC, Burundi, Djibouti, Madagascar, Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe) and the Asia-Pacific area (China, Mongolia, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia).

His energy and natural resources law experience includes advising clients on the legislative and regulatory framework and permitting process relevant to corporate and property acquisitions relating to energy and natural resources, conducting acquisition due diligence investigations in respect of energy, oil and gas and mineral companies, properties, tenements and assets, and advising on exploration and production agreements, production and supply agreements, off-take agreements and other contractual matters.

His project acquisition, development and finance experience includes acquisition due diligence investigations in respect of project companies or project assets, project structuring, project-related regulatory and legislative advice, project sponsorship, ownership and financing, project finance, project development and procurement. He has acted as legal counsel to project owners, sponsors and lenders.

In addition, he has advised governments (China, Vietnam and Morocco) and international development institutions (the World Bank, AusAID, CIDA, ABD and the EU) on the reform of mineral and energy legislation and public administrations, as well as on the privatisation of state-owned oil, electricity or water production and distribution operators.

He is a member of the mining law and oil and gas sections of the International Bar Association. He holds an LLM (Honours) from the University of Melbourne, a Post-graduate Degree (D.E.S.S) in International Business Law (Honours) from the University of Rennes I, a Master's Degree in Business Law from the University of Paris-II, a Bachelor's Degree (Licence) in Private Law, Business Law option (Honours) from the University of Paris II-Assas, and a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science (Honours) from the University of Bordeaux-I-IEP.

He is a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales, a Barrister ("Avocat") admitted to the Bar of Paris, and a Registered Foreign Lawyer (Attorney General's Office, Mauritius). He is recognised by Who's Who Legal for Mining (Mauritius).