What major shifts in internationalization have you observed over your 27 years of practice?
When I started out in the 90s, going global was almost exclusively about exporting. Distribution agreements ruled the day, and companies manufactured locally before selling abroad.
Today, that model is obsolete. Clients don’t just want products delivered to them; they want service. That requires a local footprint – commercial, technical, and sometimes even industrial.
This fundamental transition – from simple exporting to physical establishment – is the first major shift of the modern era. And this is exactly where I see Altios’s strength: they are a specialized player in local market entry, which has become an absolutely critical capability.
The second major shift is time. Where we used to spend months, or even a year, setting up a foreign subsidiary, cycles have drastically compressed.
Clients expect rapid answers, setups, and deployment. However, this acceleration is a double-edged sword. It is highly beneficial when a rapid setup succeeds, but disastrous when it lacks upfront analysis: without anticipating the risk factors, speed can lead straight to failure.
The pandemic also exposed the fragility of global value chains. Following the offshoring euphoria of the 2000s and 2010s, we are now seeing a massive push for reindustrialization and nearshoring to de-risk operations.
We realized that highly fragmented value chains are a major liability. So, companies are trying to shorten their supply chains to regain control over the risk.
Digitalization has profoundly altered market entry conditions – barriers to entry that were once almost insurmountable have virtually vanished. But it has also paved the way for new competitors, notably from Asia, who are highly advanced digitally.
The global map has also shifted. China, which dominated the 2000–2010 decade, remains a major player but is no longer the sole horizon. New emerging markets are now capturing attention: Vietnam, Malaysia, Turkey, the Gulf States, Brazil, and Africa.
Twenty years ago, all eyes were on China; today, the landscape is far more diversified.
Finally, financing global growth has become a major strategic challenge. Companies have less liquidity, interest rates are up, and accessing public markets has become harder. Two solutions have emerged: Bpifrance (the French public investment bank), a powerful vehicle that has massively contributed to the international and M&A growth of French companies; and private equity, which is now highly accessible to SMEs and mid-caps, providing growth capital in exchange for a reporting culture and tighter governance.
Have you experienced a major failure? What lesson did you learn from it?
For a long time, I believed that writing academic legal doctrine was the best business development tool. It was a mistake I paid for dearly: I spent months drafting an article on advertising law for a prestigious international journal, and absolutely no one read it. It went completely unnoticed. That field wasn’t even my core business; I did it out of intellectual curiosity. Nobody read it.
Now that I’ve learned my lesson, I co-author highly practical articles with Italian CPAs, published in industry magazines like the Revue Française de Comptabilité (French Journal of Accounting). We focus on topics directly tied to cross-border M&A. These articles are accessible, targeting CEOs and shareholders, not other lawyers. And I bring printed copies to my client meetings.
I have seen how it changes the way people perceive me. I learned from the past: today, I know what actually works. Paper, the tangible, in a digital age is a differentiator that makes a real impact.
What are the major challenges for internationalization in the coming years?
First, geopolitical risk. Most companies still don’t internalize this. Having clients in the Middle East, suppliers in Taiwan, and a subsidiary in Mexico creates a geopolitical exposure that must be managed as a core competency, not just during an acquisition, but in day-to-day operations.
Second, compliance and regulation. Supply chain due diligence, GDPR, anti-bribery laws, ESG, environmental standards: the regulatory burden is exploding. Mid-caps often find themselves with a single in-house counsel forced to cover everything. Reputational and criminal risks have skyrocketed in today’s hyper-regulated environment.
Third, the war for talent. SMEs and mid-caps often struggle to attract the profiles they need. Competition is no longer local: a French executive can choose between Singapore and Bordeaux. Millennials and Gen Z have expectations that large corporations are better equipped to meet than mid-sized organizations.
Fourth, the ecological transition. Decarbonization remains an absolute imperative, even if “Trumpism” is creating a temporary counter current. Many companies haven’t anticipated this transformation, which carries a very real cost.
Fifth, financing. Higher interest rates and risk-averse lenders make funding global expansion more complex. Companies that have hoarded cash and know how to tap into private equity have a distinct advantage.
Finally, artificial intelligence and automation. There is a real risk of premature over-investment, just as there is a symmetrical risk of under-investment. If you aren’t leveraging AI, your competitors are. And you risk falling behind. The real question is how you harness it and make it work for you.
What role does Altios play in your business, and what makes this partnership work?
The partnership between Castaldi Partners and Altios kicked off in 2019. In less than seven years, we have jointly executed around twenty deals, primarily in industrial M&A between France and Italy. Most of these are buy-side mandates, though we’ve also handled several sell-side deals. Our clients’ growth strategies are heavily focused on penetrating new markets, expanding their product or service offerings, and leveraging the export networks of the acquired targets.
When you are executing a €10 million deal, you can’t exactly knock on Rothschild’s door. And yet, the operational needs are exactly the same. Altios has that execution capability. That is what makes our partnership work so well.
Beyond the transaction itself, our partnership sometimes extends to post-closing support: post-merger HR management, setting up cash pooling structures, and cultural mediation between the acquiring and target teams.
We often act as cultural mediators. Altios does the exact same thing on a broader scale. The core principle is identical: protect the deal’s value and, wherever possible, compound it.
M&A is not just about drafting contracts. It is about managing people, communicating effectively, negotiating with finesse, and delivering the right messages. It is a matter of practical know-how and emotional intelligence, not just technical legal skills.
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