De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek NV - The Who's Who Legal 100 2012

What is the Who's Who Legal 100?

The firm has an “exceptional” corporate practice and we feature five lawyers in the M&A chapter. Pierre Nijnens heads the firm’s M&A/corporate practice where he regularly advises clients on setting up Dutch corporate structures, and Arne Grimme is a specialist in both public and private M&A. The “first-class” Paul Cronheim recently advised Corio on the €1.3 billion acquisition of operational shopping centres and development projects in Germany, Spain and Portugal from Multi Corporation. Bernard Roelvink is another highly regarded name; he recently acted as counsel in a number of contested public takeovers in the Netherlands. Jaap Winter is a “leading corporate lawyer” and in addition to his M&A practice he is also highly regarded for his corporate governance work. Winter – along with Cronheim, Roelvink and Martin Van Olffen – also features in the corporate governance chapter.

De Brauw also boasts an impressive set of banking lawyers. Dirk Meerburg is lauded for the breadth of his practice which includes advising on equity financing, structured finance and corporate finance transactions. Jan Marten Van Dijk is “top tier” and he recently advised the consortium composed of Royal Bank of Scotland, Fortis and Banco Santander on the regulatory aspects of the acquisition of ABN AMRO. The “excellent” Berend Crans is noted for this broad finance practice which includes advising clients in structured finance transactions and debt restructurings. Recent work includes advising VION in a €300 million trade receivables securitisation. He is also recognised in the aviation and project finance chapters.

For competition matters Jolling de Pree is a leading name. His expertise includes representing companies in international cartel investigations and merger cases and his clients include KON, Philips Electronics and Rabobank. The firm’s managing partner Martijn Snoep is also a rated expert in the field. With experience litigating before European and Dutch courts, he regularly defends companies against allegations of infringements with regard to competition law. The “brilliant” Erik Pijnacker Hordijk has a much-recognised practice, which includes advising on second-phase merger control cases before the European and Dutch authorities, as well as litigating on complex state aid issues before the European Court. He is also listed in our public procurement chapter where he is a recognised expert in the field. He is joined in this chapter by Bommel van der Bend whose clients include a Dutch rail infrastructure provider, a multinational engineering company, a major seaport and a worldwide operating deep-sea drilling company. He is also recognised for his construction work where he is involved in complex arbitrations.

Bernard Spoor is a respected private funds lawyer. He specialises in the structuring of investment funds, corporate structuring and corporate finance transactions involving investment institutions. He is joined by Kees Groffen who recently advised NG Real Estate Investment Management Europe on the structuring of an investment fund regulated in the Netherlands, through which institutional investors are offered the opportunity to invest in 14 non-listed property funds with total assets under management of more than €18 billion. With regard to corporate tax work, two individuals stand out in our research. Dick Hofland has extensive experience acting for multinationals and banks, and Paul Sleurink is also lauded for his “first-class” tax practice. Sleurink recently advised Royal Friesland Foods and Campina on the tax aspects of their €9.1 billion merger.

The firm has an impressive intellectual property team. Head of the IP/ICT practice, Koen Limperg is a much-respected name and his areas of focus include IP conflict resolution through litigation, negotiation, mediation and arbitration. He is also listed in the product liability defence chapter. Two names feature in the oil and gas chapter, including Elisabetta Aarts, who advises a broad range of national and international clients in the energy sector. Marnix Leijten also advises key players in the energy sector and in particular is noted for his disputes work. Earning an additional listing in our commercial litigation chapter, he recently represented a multinational oil company in parallel proceedings in a state court in Houston, Texas and The Hague over deep-sea drilling techniques.

Further prominent listings in our capital markets, environment, internet and e-commerce, patents, project finance and management labour and employment chapters demonstrate the broad-ranging expertise that the firm offers.