De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek
De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek‘s restructuring and insolvency practice is headed up by the ’creative and solution-minded’ Ferdinand Hengst who splits his time between the firm’s Amsterdam and London offices. Former co-lead of the team Reinout Vriesendorp retired from in May 2023. The group's workload consists of advising well-known clients on the plethora of high-value and ultra-high-value insolvency work and through its accompanying processes, in both domestic and cross-border contexts. It is regarded as ‘the go-to practice for international bet-the-company restructurings’, with a client roster that features names from various industries. Bas Boutellier was notably promoted to partnership in January 2023; specialist counsel Matthias Haentjens joined the team in the same month.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘We have a longstanding relationships with the team.’
‘Ferdinand is creative and solution-minded without losing the interest of his client.’
‘Ferdinand Hengst is great. Really approachable, commercial and diligent.’
‘The go-to practice for international bet-the-company restructurings. Once engaged, they are fully dedicated to bringing restructurings to a good end.'
'Very capable of dealing with politically sensitive matters. They have strong international capabilities, great effectiveness and provide full-service cooperation - these attributes are unique in the Dutch market.’
‘Ferdinand Hengst is a very bright, business savvy lawyer who is well-versed to take a helicopter view and deal with all aspects of the matter at hand, including issues of a non-legal nature. ’
Key clients
- HEMA B.V.
- Royal Philips N.V.
- Cineworld plc
- The Hertz Company
- Unilever plc
- Jet Airways
- The Central Bank of Curacao and Sint Maarten
- ING Bank
- Nordea Bank SA
- Credit Suisse Brazil (Bahamas) Ltd
- Providence Equity LLP
- Centerbridge Partners
- Bonprix Fashion
- Otto Group Germany
- Waterland Private Equity
- IHC Merwede
- Intergas
- GasTerra
- TenneT
- Takeaway.com
- Korean National Oil Company
- DNB
- The Dutch National Railway (NS)
Work highlights
- Advised on the restructuring initiative and accompanying processes for HEMA together with Goldman Sachs; HEMA's bond debt was reduced from €750m to €340m, its debt maturity profile extended and its debt services costs reduced significantly.
- Advised on Diebold Nixdorf group's extensive restructuring by way of Chapter 11 proceedings in the US and WHOA proceedings in the Netherlands, and the first-ever recognition of the WHOA plan in the US under Chapter 15.
- Acting for CBCS in the entire spectrum of this cross-border restructuring work; following the sale of Banco di Caribe in an M&A auction, extensive negotiations were initiated with the government about a bail-in package.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Ferdinand Hengst