PhD Economist · Finance Practitioner

Litigation Expertise

Securities Litigation

Benoit has acted as an expert in some of continental Europe’s most complex securities lawsuits and regulatory matters and supported lawyers in administrative, civil and penal proceedings. He has also provided insights that proved decisive in front of courts and regulatory authorities. Benoit is known for the rigour and depth of his analyses, which he draws from his prior experience as a finance practitioner and his academic research and insights. He is variously involved at different stages of proceedings to:

  • Appraise the allegations of wrongful disclosures made against a securities issuer and assess its financial exposure and (alleged) damages

  • Evaluate alleged market manipulation, insider trading or other related allegations made by a market regulator against a securities issuer, insiders or other agents

  • Assist in structuring settlements between securities issuers accused of improper disclosures and investors

In doing so, Benoit often relies on sophisticated techniques, including relying on trading volumes and intra-day prices, assessing the speed at which new information is impounded into security prices and accounting for the specific trading characteristics of the securities at issue.

Other Finance Litigation

Benoit has been involved as a financial expert in court and arbitration proceedings, including post-M&A claims. In such proceedings, Benoit’s prior experience as a transaction advisor and his academic insights on valuation (see below) mean that Benoit has dealt effectively with the financial, economic, and legal drafting issues and transactional circumstances that give rise to disputes after M&A transactions are executed.

Benoit’s experience shows that it is often essential to go well beyond a purely accounting perspective on finance disputes and to examine:

  • The economic intent of the parties and the balance of interests between them at transaction time, without the benefit of hindsight

  • The substance of financial instruments or agreements between the parties, especially in connection to transaction terms

  • The causal link between the alleged wrongful acts and the alleged damages

Intellectual Property Litigation

Benoit has acted as an economic expert in alleged patent and trademark infringement lawsuits in the consumer goods, healthcare and high technology industries. He filed reports on the economic relevance of the intellectual property, on their likely value, and on the counterfactual situation without infringement, accounting for assessed economic causation and damages. In doing so, Benoit considered factors such as:

  • Expressed customer needs, demand drivers, and substitutes

  • Fixed and variable costs, incremental margins, and FRAND terms

  • Capacity and other constraints

Also, Benoit’s background and prior experience as a computer engineer enables him to give qualified opinions in relation to software development. In that capacity, he has supported a prominent software engineering expert, Prof. Bertrand Meyer, in various proceedings worldwide.

Competition (Antitrust) and Commercial Litigation

Benoit has been one of the lead experts in some of the European largest cartel cases of the last few years, including the recent EEA Truck cartel and German plant protection cartel. In that capacity, he has variously been retained, after an admission of guilt, by former cartel members, claimants or litigation funders for a variety of tasks, including:

  • Assessing the incentives of the cartelists and the likelihood that the cartel would affect market prices, based on the collusive practices and recognised economic criteria

  • Analysing the exposure resulting from the cartel artificially increasing prices beyond competitive levels and the likelihood that a price overcharge would be passed on downstream

  • Reviewing and rebutting the arguments made by the opposing side on the presence or absence of effects, their magnitude and downstream pass-on

  • Drafting and filing reports summarising findings in various European jurisdictions, including France, Germany and the Netherlands

Benoit has also estimated the economic impact associated with alleged breaches of contracts and undesirable regulatory changes.

Consulting and Advisory

Valuation

Benoit has been advising clients on valuation since 2005. First focused on financial valuation, he has branched out into transfer prices and intangible valuation, which often require similar techniques. Through his work and his insights as an academic researcher, Benoit has learned to challenge the assumptions and techniques commonly applied by valuers to identify suitable methods and assess factors that influence value.

Benoit’s most recent valuation work has included:

  • Assessing the value of illiquid Bermudan call options on non-traded real estate

  • Valuing a distressed regional airline before a contemplated equity injection by both private and public investors

  • Confirming empirically that a patent of no importance did not justify significant royalties.

Board Advisory

Benoit has advised Boards of Directors and dedicated board subcommittees on a variety of complex litigation-related and financial matters. In particular, he provided opinions or reassurances on topics such as:

  • Balance sheet planning and restructuring

    • Liability management exercises (bond restructuring)

    • Restructuring or monetisation strategies for complex financial assets

  • Fairness opinions

    • Valuation of complex financial assets (e.g., non-traded, non-ISDA compliant options) and liabilities (e.g., complex, illiquid derivative instruments with several underlying assets)

    • Valuation of business activities before their disposal and recommendation of whether to proceed with the sale