Europe - Netherlands

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek

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With impressive experience advising on public and private transactions, leveraged buy-outs, and corporate restructurings, Arne Grimme heads up the corporate practice at De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, which is highly regarded for 'consistently providing top-notch advice'. The group regularly acts for a client base of domestic and international entities in a broad spectrum of matters. Gaby Smeenk is well known for advising on M&A and joint ventures, and Michael Schouten handles domestic and cross-border business acquisitions. Klaas De Vries specialises in assisting with significant cross-border transactions. Jaap Barneveld and Frank Hamming, who made partner in November 2023, are also key names.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘An excellent team and great even on an international scale.’

  • ‘Arne Grimme, Klaas de Vries, Lennart Keijzer are each excellent in their own M&A fields; Michael Schouten stands out for governance and the unrivalled Jan Willem Hoevers does for equity capital markets.’

  • ‘Gaby Smeenk and her team are second-to-none. Fantastic to work with, extremely smart and pragmatic negotiators.’

  • ‘De Brauw is a very reputable firm with high-quality partners and teams, consistently providing top-notch advice. While their advice has always been of high quality and based on a sound theoretical understanding, the team is also pragmatic, which truly helps to get M&A transactions done.’

  • ‘Jaap Barneveld combines in-depth knowledge on all relevant legal and other aspects of public-to-privates with a pragmatic mindset and is always focused on finding the best possible solution for the client.’

  • ‘A good multi-disciplinary team that integrates with us seamlessly.’

  • ‘Unparalleled experience in complex multijurisdictional deals. Thoughtful, deal-minded advice coupled with good technical expertise.’

  • ‘Tijmen Klein Bronsvoort is a good lawyer with great technical skills.’

Key clients

  • ABN AMRO
  • AkzoNobel
  • Advent
  • AEGON
  • BAM
  • Beter Bed Holding
  • CVC
  • EQT
  • Flow Traders
  • Heineken
  • ING
  • JustEat Takeaway
  • Royal Philips
  • Leaseplan
  • NN
  • Parcom
  • Pon
  • Rabobank
  • Rivean Capital
  • Royal Schiphol Group
  • TenneT
  • DataSnipper
  • Ferrovial
  • Teleperformance

Work highlights

  • Advised AEGON on the combination of its Dutch operations with a.s.r. for a total consideration of €4.9bn.
  • Advised Teleperformance on its €3bn takeover offer of Majorel.
  • Advised Heineken on the sale of the Vrumona factory to Danish buyer Royal Unibrew.

Lawyers

Hall of Fame

The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Arne Grimme

Other key lawyers

Klaas de Vries, Michael Schouten, Jaap Barneveld, Jan Willem Hoevers, Gaby Smeenk, Tijmen Klein Bronsvoort, Yi Duan, Frank Hamming, Anja Mutsaers