Francesco De Biasi is counsel based in the Rome office.
Mr. De Biasi’s practice primarily focuses on international litigation and arbitration, with an emphasis on corporate, commercial and financial matters. Mr. De Biasi also has extensive experience with corporate law advice, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring transactions and private enforcement actions.
In 2005, Mr. De Biasi represented ABN AMRO in corporate litigation against Banca Popolare Italiana, the successful conclusion of which enabled the bank to gain control of Banca Antonveneta and marked the first acquisition of an Italian bank by a foreign bank. He represented Alitalia in an international arbitration relating to the termination of its strategic alliance with KLM, which resulted in an arbitral award of €271 million for Alitalia in 2002. Mr. De Biasi is currently representing Gucci in litigation initiated by Prada, which is seeking a damage award of €25 million for Gucci’s alleged tortious interference in connection with the acquisition of an Italian footwear company. In addition, he is acting as an arbitrator on a three-member ICC arbitration panel in Paris, in connection with a dispute between an Italian company and a Turkish company concerning the alleged breach of a know-how license agreement. Mr. De Biasi is also representing Ljubljanska banka in proceedings initiated by more than 700 Croatian and Slovenian depositors seeking a judgment that would establish Ljubljanska banka’s liability to them. In the last two years, Mr. De Biasi has also been involved in many cases of private enforcement concerning Italian subsidiaries of multinational groups, including subsequent litigation arising from these cases.
On corporate transactions, Mr. De Biasi’s experience includes the acquisition by Texas Pacific Group and subsequent listing of Ducati Motor Holding, as well as the acquisition of Piaggio by Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and subsequently by IMMSI. He was also involved in the global restructurings of the Daewoo and MEMC groups and in the privatization of Finmeccanica.
Mr. De Biasi drafted a chapter concerning correction and enforcement of arbitral awards for
Dizionario dell’arbitrato (a digest on Italian and international arbitration, published by Giuffrè, Milan, 1997), and a chapter on Italy for a book entitled
International Execution Against Judgment Debtors (Sweet and Maxwell, London, 1993). He has also lectured at numerous conferences on corporate and litigation matters in Italy.
Mr. De Biasi joined the Brussels office in 1996 and transferred to the Rome office in 1998. He became counsel in 2004. He graduated with honors from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in 1990, and worked in Rome with the Studio Biamonti until 1996. During this period, he also collaborated with Professor Natalino Irti of the Department of Civil Law Institutions at La Sapienza as a teaching assistant. He obtained his LL.M. degree from Columbia University School of Law in 1998.
Mr. De Biasi has been a member of the Rome Bar since 1993. He is a native Italian speaker and is fluent in English.