Embracing the joie de vivre – Cyrine Abdelmoula

Bagatelle Group is a luxury hospitality brand of high-end Mediterranean restaurants and beach clubs that celebrate southern France’s joie de vivre and epicurean spirit across the world. As the Group Head of Legal, Cyrine Abdelmoula is responsible for all legal issues affecting the Bagatelle Group internationally.

Cyrine joined the Bagatelle Group two years ago, after practising in M&A, private equity and restructuring at firms including Ashurst. While her private practice experience has proved very useful in her current role, she initially faced a steep learning curve. “It was a challenge at the start because when I joined I thought I would be mainly in charge of negotiating the Group’s new partnerships. Instead, I found myself responsible for all local and international legal issues, including labour issues, intellectual property, regulatory compliance, contracts, licences, divestments, partnerships and joint ventures. I also had to get up to speed quickly with operational and financial issues. But I now love the breadth of what I do, including being able to work closely with other areas of the business, a wide range of foreign lawyers and our stakeholders.”

Cyrine also enjoys being deeply involved in the business and working side-by-side with the Group’s other directors. “The more I understand the financial and operational issues, the better I can do my job by improving the provisions of our contracts and ensuring our rights are correctly secured,” she added.

Since she joined the Bagatelle Group, Cyrine‘s biggest achievement has been in improving governance procedures and communications with the Group’s investors. “I really enjoy working directly with our investors. While ensuring we comply with shareholder agreements, it’s also important that we provide investors with the timely information they need to approve Bagatelle Group’s projects, such as new partnerships, divestments, or new concepts,” she said.

Cyrine expects her most significant success at the Bagatelle Group is yet to come. The Group is currently exploring a merger between its parent company, where there has been fundraising, and a middle entity – an important step in making the Group sale-ready.

One of the biggest perks of Cyrine’s job is that she has been able to experience Bagatelle restaurants located around the world, including in Mykonos, London, St. Tropez and Courchevel. She says each destination is amazing in its own way, but the views of the ski slope and French mountains at Courchevel have wowed her the most. She’s hoping to be able to visit all Bagatelle restaurants in the near future.

Moving from counsel to client

In her current role, Cyrine finds herself in the curious position of being an Ashurst client rather than a counsel in the firm’s Paris office. “As a counsel in the Paris team, I advised the Bagatelle Group on a fundraising. Eventually, I decided to join the Group in an in-house role – although it was a hard decision to make and I was sad to be leaving Ashurst and my friends there. But, in some ways, I feel like I haven’t really left as I still work closely with Noam Ankri and stay in touch with my other friends too,” she said.

Cyrine credits Noam, who heads the distressed companies and special situations practice of Ashurst’s Paris office, as being one of the greatest influencers in her career. “Noam was my partner and mentor when I was at DLA Piper and I followed him to Ashurst in 2018. He taught me to be rigorous, to always give my best, to think outside the box to develop creative solutions, and to celebrate every deal that closes. I sometimes think Noam knows everything about everything because his work is perfection.” In a wry confession, Cyrine said she still appreciates being able to work with Noam by being on the other side of the table and enjoys seeing his insights on the drafts she provides.

Bagatelle Courchevel (image courtesy of Bagatelle Group)

Moving from Africa to Europe to America and back again

Cyrine’s mother has been another important influence on her. As Cyrine said: “My mum has always taught me to work hard and to be independent. That’s helped me succeed in my studies and in my career.”

Cyrine was born and raised in Tunisia. After finishing school, she moved to France to study in Toulouse before graduating from Paris-Pantheon-Assas University, where she earned her Master’s Degree in corporate law and tax.

After graduating and being admitted to the French Bar, Cyrine was keen to work in M&A, so she took on a traineeship with an international firm – Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. The team at Orrick encouraged Cyrine, who already spoke French, Arabic and some English, to become fluent in English so she could secure ongoing work with the firm. Because of this, Cyrine moved to the United States to immerse herself in English. While there, she completed an LLM at Boston University and passed the New York Bar. After a year, Cyrine returned to Paris where she joined Orrick as a lawyer. Four years later she became an associate in Noam Ankri’s team at DLA Piper in Paris. 

Cyrine is still based in Paris – some of the time. In her role with the Bagatelle Group, she can work flexibly two weeks a month, which she does from her home in Tunisia.

“It’s wonderful to be able to split my life between Paris and Tunisia. When I am in Paris, I can catch up with friends and enjoy everything the city has to offer. But as my family is in Tunisia, it’s no surprise that I also love being there and spending time with them. Not to mention the fact that Tunisia’s gorgeous weather is often a lot more pleasant than the rain in Paris.”

Beyond spending time with her family and friends, Cyrine enjoys boxing and keeping fit, as well as indulging in being “a little bit lazy” at times.