Linklaters

Adrien Timmermans

Adrien is a Counsel in the Luxembourg Investment Funds practice which he joined in 2014. Adrien specialises in venture capital, private equity, real estate, infrastructure, credit fundraising as well as providing ongoing assistance to fund managers and promoters. In addition, he acts for investors in respect of their investments (including secondaries) into a variety of asset classes. He also advises on investment fund compliance and regulatory issues (including AIFMD). He is registered to the Luxembourg bar.

Anton Cox

Anton is a real estate lawyer who has advised on transactions in Belgium and Luxembourg since 2001. He has headed Luxembourg’s downstream real estate practice since the beginning of 2015 and was promoted to Counsel in 2017. Anton advises on the full range of issues within real estate, including incorporation and sale and purchase of real estate companies or real estate assets, real estate financing, environmental and town planning matters, litigation and structuring of projects. Anton’s practice also incorporates general commercial and contract law, construction law, agency and distribution law and projects. Anton regularly speaks at local and international industry events, including the Meetincs annual Real Estate conference where he looked at “Commercial leases” and the IFE session on Real Estate in Luxembourg. Anton moderated Linklaters Luxembourg’s first Real Estate conference, gathering over 100 guests.

Claire Prospert

Claire is a partner in the Luxembourg Investment Funds group. Claire has a broad and deep expertise in all types of investment fund matters. She advises some of the largest international asset managers on the structuring of Luxembourg alternative investment funds in all private market classes, including private equity, real estate, infrastructure, debt and hedge funds, as well as the setting-up of co-investment structures or tailored managed accounts. Claire further covers fund regulatory matters and provides day-to-day assistance to asset managers, both in the regulated and unregulated investments funds sphere. Besides her expertise in the alternative business, Claire further has deep knowledge of retail investor funds (UCITS and UCIs) and is the legal counsel to a number of flagship funds managed by some of the largest asset managers in the world.

Cyrielle Nis

Cyrielle joined the Tax practice of Linklaters Luxembourg in 2016, having previously gained professional experience in the Tax department of a top name international company and law firm. Cyrielle focuses on tax law and is advising on cross-border acquisitions as well as restructuring transactions.

Danièle Buchler

Danièle Buchler joined Linklaters Luxembourg’s tax practice in 2009 and was promoted to Partner in May 2023. She regularly advises corporate clients on the Luxembourg tax aspects of cross-border reorganisations and assists investment managers in the set-up and tax structuring of joint venture companies and fund vehicles. She further has significant expertise in the tax structuring of private equity transactions and, more generally, the downstream structuring of fund investments across all asset classes. Aside from her focus on funds and financial investors, Danièle also advises on the various tax angles of local real estate transactions both by way of share deals and asset deals.

Eliane Dejardin Botelho

Eliane joined Linklaters Luxembourg’s capital markets and banking group in 2004 and was elected partner by the firm in May 2022. She has special expertise in regulatory matters and has been involved in a number of bank and insurance set-ups and reorganisations in Luxembourg and abroad. She regularly advises international groups active in the banking (including retail and private banking fields) and insurance businesses and is a key contributor to the development of the Linklaters Luxembourg insurance practice. Eliane has also specialist expertise in derivatives and securities financing structures for major Luxembourg banks, central securities depositories and central clearing houses. She regularly advises these entities on their product offering to clients. Among which, a number of Clearstream Banking products, such as the Clearstream Terms and Conditions for Repurchase Transactions (“CRC”), the Clearstream Terms and Conditions for Pledge Agreements (“CPC”) and the custody and margin security documents prepared in association with a major international derivatives trade association in the context of the uncleared derivatives margin implementation. She also has extensive expertise in banking matters, including credit and security taking, real estate finance as well as restructuring and enforcement of Luxembourg security interests. Eliane is also at the origin of the Linklaters Learning Hub – a training and networking hub associating young lawyers at the firm with young professionals at clients.

Florence Forster

Florence joined the Luxembourg Linklaters mainstream corporate practice in 2011 and was seconded to the Linklaters’ Paris office in 2014. She advises in corporate restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and private equity transactions, with a specific focus on the German market, working closely with the German Linklaters offices. Florence studied in Germany, France and the US and holds an LL.M. degree from Cornell Law School and a Master I and Master II degree from the University of Paris X. She was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2010, the Paris Bar in 2011 and the Luxembourg Bar in 2012 (liste IV du Tableau de l'Ordre).

Guido De Wit

Guido works as a VAT partner for both the Linklaters Brussels and Luxembourg office. Having worked for over 30 years on VAT matters, Guido has gained a wealth of experience and expertise in this area. He is recognised as one of the foremost VAT lawyers in Belgium and has, moreover, extensive experience in all indirect tax aspects relating to real estate transactions. In 1998 he was appointed at the faculty of the law school of the ULB (Free University of Brussels) and has been teaching on VAT related issues at the same university ever since. He is a frequent lecturer on VAT issues and regularly publishes articles on VAT related matters. The article “Le lieu de taxation : un sujet en plein mouvement” in Collection Collégiales du droit : “TVA – Taxer, déduire, exonérer et punir. Etat des savoirs, enjeux et perspectives” which has been published by Legitech is a recent example. Guido also heads the European VAT Centre, composed of VAT specialists of Linklaters in Europe and is a member of the VAT Working Group of the Association of the Luxembourg Funds Industry (ALFI) and the Luxembourg Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (LPEA). Guido has been working in the Luxembourg office since 2013. It is further to the increasing demand in this field that it was decided to integrate Guido into our department to serve our clients even better. In 2016, Guido provided, as an expert appointed by the IMF, technical assistance on the introduction of a VAT system in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region. His mission included a 9 day stay in the Gulf region. He went on another mission in May 2017, this time round to assist the government of Suriname in the designing and drafting of a VAT law.

Guy Loesch

Guy Loesch has been a litigation partner since 1998. He heads the dispute resolution practice of Linklaters in Luxembourg and has significant experience of litigation and arbitration. He has a general commercial litigation practice and has advised widely on banking liability, shareholders’ claims and private international law cases. Guy specialises in all forms of urgent injunction relief, freezing orders and other forms of conservatory measures. He advises in complex insolvency and restructuring cases. He has advised large financial institutions in all sort of investigations.

Hermann Beythan

Hermann is an Of Counsel in the Investment Funds practice. He has headed the practice for several years. His investment funds practice focuses on complex fund structuring. Hermann regularly acts as counsel to prime investment fund houses. Hermann is regularly involved in the structuring of complex investment fund structures, notably debt and real estate funds. Brexit related work is the third pillar at Hermann’s practice. Hermann is also acknowledged by the market as a regulatory expert in investment management matters. A particular focus of his regulatory practice, apart from cross-border financial service provisions and cross-border private placements, is outsourcing and the conduct of change of control procedure with the Luxembourg and EU regulators.

Joakim-Antoine Charvet

Joakim-Antoine joined Linklaters in 2011. He has been promoted to full -Equity Partner in 2021. He is the Head of the Tax practice in Luxembourg. He is a member of the Luxembourg bar. Prior to joining Linklaters Luxembourg, Joakim-Antoine worked as an associate at another tax dedicated law firm in Luxembourg for nearly four years. He specialises in tax consulting and international tax planning. His main area of activity is private equity, where he mainly deals with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, and joint ventures. He is also very active in transfer pricing issues and in the structuring of complex financial products. In addition to his fluency in English, his Spanish speaking skills and understanding of the Italian language make him a privileged person to go to for deals involving Southern Europe. Alongside his client work, Joakim regularly participates to industry meetings on subjects like ATAD in particular within the Luxembourg Capital Market Association (LuxCMA). He has also been analysing and summarising case law for Kluwer for more than 10 years, on a monthly basis.

Katrien Baetens

Katrien is a dually qualified and all-round litigator. She represents clients in complex domestic and international litigation and arbitration matters as well as compliance matters. Katrien has extensive experience in commercial and finance disputes, as well as restructuring and insolvency matters (including the enforcement of financial collateral) and auditor litigation.

Louis-Eudes Giroux

Louis-Eudes specialises in commercial and civil litigation. He focuses on providing clear and sustainable solutions in particular complex matters. Louis-Eudes expertise also includes criminal law, European law, employment law and public law including environmental and planning law. Louis-Eudes also gained valuable experience in assisting clients with investigations. Louis-Eudes has worked in the Dispute Resolution & Employment department of an international law firm in Luxembourg during almost 3 years. Prior to this, Louis-Eudes did internships in our Litigation, Arbitration and Investigations practice of our Paris office.

Manfred Müller

Manfred joined Linklaters’ corporate/M&A practice group in Luxembourg in 2002 and was elected partner in 2015. Manfred has significant experience in company law, mergers and acquisitions, upstream and downstream private equity and real estate structuring (one key area of Manfred’s activity consists in developing the private equity and the real estate offering of the corporate practice), joint ventures, equity capital markets, group restructurings, as well as in share and asset sale negotiations. Manfred notably advises PE funds such as Triton and HgCapital. Manfred also has experience in ship finance, in insurance law and in the corporate aspects of setting up regulated investment funds (both FCP and SICAV) and SICARs. He was seconded to Linklaters’ Munich office (corporate and tax practice groups) in 2007 and to Linklaters’ Hong Kong office (corporate practice group) from May to December 2012 and is actively involved in a number of cross-border business development initiatives. As one of the most senior practitioners in the team and thanks to his German speaking skills, Manfred is taking a leading role on major transactions involving German banks and corporates present in Luxembourg.

Marek Tołcz

Senior Associate

Martin Mager

Martin is a partner in the Luxembourg Investment Funds Group. He has specialised experience with regard to the structuring, establishment and ongoing advice of alternative investment funds (sponsor practice) as well as advising institutional investors with regard to investments in international fund structures (investor practice). Martin advises in a wide range of asset classes including private equity, real estate, infrastructure, green energy, debt, venture capital and impact. His work includes all types of investment fund structures including segregated managed accounts and investment-type securitisation structures. Finally, he advises on all fund-related ESG matters. His advice covers the legal, regulatory and tax aspects both from a Luxembourg and German perspective.

Maxime Bertomeu-Savalle

Maxime is a counsel in the Luxembourg corporate group. He joined the firm in 2010, was seconded to the litigation group of our Luxembourg office in 2012 and to the financial sponsors practice of our London office in 2014. He advises clients on a wide range of corporate matters, with a particular expertise in private M&A, joint ventures and group restructuring. He has experience on working on the sale or acquisition of regulated businesses in Luxembourg. Maxime gained specific expertise in advising financial sponsors on all Luxembourg corporate aspects, including initial investment, structuring, exit and portfolio assistance. He regularly advises clients on complex cross-border restructuring and insolvency matters. Maxime also recently advised on the set-up of SPACs, their listing on a regulated market and business combinations with targets of different industries (de-SPAC transactions).

Melinda Perera

Melinda joined Linklaters Luxembourg in 2003, was promoted to Partner in 2017 and since May 2022, has been appointed as head of the Capital Markets and Banking practice of Linklaters Luxembourg. Her capital markets practice concentrates on debt instruments and securitisation. Melinda’s banking practice includes advising on syndicated lending, investment grade, margin loan and leveraged acquisition finance, asset finance, real estate finance and distressed debt acquisitions. She also has special expertise in restructuring and insolvency and has played a major role in complex cross border restructuring, notably (i) for the Central Bank of Luxembourg as principal creditor of the Luxembourg banking subsidiary of collapsed Icelandic banks Landsbanki Islands hf., Glitnir Banki hf. and Kaupthing Bank; (ii) in restructuring in the renewable energy sector, the inspection safety business, the paper industry and in real estate. She has extensive experience of advising on multi-disciplinary and cross-border real estate finance transactions in the most demanding circumstances. Melinda has considerable experience advising clients on all sides of finance transactions, including banks, financial institutions, private equity houses and corporate clients. Her experience extends to a range of restructuring, insolvency, real estate financing, private equity, regulatory and capital markets transactions. She also takes an active interest in pro bono and community work both inside and outside the firm.

Nicki Kayser

Nicki is the national managing partner of the firm’s Luxembourg office. He is also a partner of the Luxembourg capital markets and banking group since April 2006. Nicki practises in capital markets as well as in banking and finance matters. His banking practice covers credit and security taking, bilateral and syndicated lending, margin loans, fund financing, acquisition finance as well as restructuring and insolvency matters. Nicki contributes regularly in legal periodicals and other publications on capital markets and banking subjects. Most recently he contributed the Luxembourg chapter in Finanzderivate (financial derivates), edited by J.C Zerey. Nicki’s capital markets practice focuses on debt instruments. Nicki has specialist expertise in derivatives products, securitisations, repackagings, fiduciary structures and generally all types of debt securities issues. He also advises regularly on prospectus, market abuse and transparency obligation laws, EMIR and other regulatory matters in the capital markets space.

Nicolas Gauzès

Nicolas joined Linklaters in 2001 where he heads and leads the Luxembourg Corporate practice. He advises fund managers and private equity houses on all Luxembourg corporate aspects, from fundraising and structuring to buyouts, public- to- privates and portfolio assistance, including restructuring advice. His work encompasses M&A, real estate and infrastructure acquisitions, debt finance, management incentives as well as governance and regulatory matters for well-established and renowned international clients including Ardian, KKR, BC Partners and Montagu. Nicolas is a board member of the Luxembourg Private Equity Association and Co-Chair of its Private Equity for Women committee.

Patrick Geortay

Patrick is a partner of the Luxembourg capital markets and banking group. Patrick is a recognised expert by the industry in banking, restructuring and insolvency, structured finance (including tax-based and fund-linked products), real estate and asset finance, debt capital markets products and securitisation. He advises international financial groups and investors on the setting up and acquisition of Luxembourg banking and insurance businesses. This includes advising on regulatory requirements, product review, security structuring, taking and enforcement, and monetary policy matters. Within leveraged finance, he has worked on the Luxembourg structuring of private equity deals for both lenders and sponsors. His asset finance practice includes the acquisition and the financing of asset registered in Luxembourg, such as aircraft and vessels, for lenders, investors and operators alike. Patrick served as National Managing Partner between 2007 and 2010 and between 2016 and 2022.

Raoul Heinen

Raoul joined Linklaters Luxembourg in 2012 and specialises in the structuring, setting up and distribution of a wide range of investment funds, with a particular focus on alternative investment funds investing in all major asset classes including real estate, debt, and infrastructure. He has also gained deep knowledge of retail investment funds (notably UCITS) by advising major global asset managers on their multibillion Luxembourg flagship funds. In parallel, Raoul advises global financial institutions on a variety of regulatory matters, notably licencing requirements, major financial services regulations (e.g. MiFID, AIFMD, PSD, AML), and Luxembourg regulatory aspects of acquisitions and group restructurings.

Rémy Bonneau

Rémy joined Linklaters’ Corporate/M&A practice group in 2007 and was appointed as partner in May 2018. Rémy has worked in both our Brussels and London offices, gaining invaluable experience for his Corporate M&A practice. Since his arrival 15 years ago, Rémy has built up strong relationships with key clients and has become the trusted advisor of major private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds. A member of the Bar in New York and Luxembourg, Rémy has extensive experience in group restructurings, joint ventures and private equity transactions. With particular expertise in international IPOs, SPACs, share offerings and takeover bids he is recognised as a leading expert in Luxembourg for Equity Capital Markets deals.

Silke Bernard

Partner