Houthoff‘s restructuring and insolvency team has strong capabilities handling the broad range of matters for its clients, including advising on the complex restructuring schemes of multi-million euro companies; on suspension of payments matters; and on the distribution of high-value interest claims to high numbers of creditors in multi-party cases. At the team’s helm is ’trusted partner and impressive negotiator’ Christiaan Zijderveld, who is well equipped to advise clients on the array of distressed situations. Frédéric Verhoeven is another noteworthy practitioner in the team with a banking and finance specialism and particular experience in cross-border matters. David Heems is focused on the full-range of contentious work in relation to insolvencies, while senior associate Karien van Boekel is noted as being ‘a reliable expert in her field’.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘A dedicated and diverse team with key expertise, that go the extra mile and seamlessly work together. They are pragmatic and business-oriented.’
‘Christiaan Zijderveld is an expert - collaborative and solutions-oriented with very good business sense. He is a pragmatic team player who goes above and beyond - a trusted partner and impressive negotiator.'
'Philip van der Eijk is a trusted advisor and good communicator with an ability to manage complex cases. Karien van Boekel is professional, dedicated and gets things done - a reliable expert in her field.'
‘Houthoff's practice is one of the best regarded in the Netherlands - they are creative and understand the business.’
‘Christiaan Zijderveld is creative and great to work with. Frédéric Verhoeven is able to align parties with opposing interests.’
‘A truly joined up team which through its composition and leadership performs highly, which results in comprehensive, powerful and robust solutions to our sometimes complex restructurings.’
‘David Heems stands out in his approach combining a holistic, architectural method, which ensures that all angles are covered.'
‘Frédéric Verhoeven and Christiaan Ziderveld are intelligent, resourceful and a pleasure to work with.’
Key clients
- teinhoff International Holdings N.V.
- Fortenova Group
- HPS Investment partners LLC
- Loyalty Ventures Inc.
- Brand Loyalty Group
- BC Partners
- Dümmen Orange
- DSB Bank
- Lehman Brothers
- Goldman Sachs
- ING Group
- CBRE
- AIG
- Supervisory Board Imtech
- Sogestran Shipping
- Indofin
- Amvest
- Time Bio Ventures
- ABNAMRO
- Bomo (Hotels van Oranje)
- Directors of Fortress Group
- Lumileds Group
Work highlights
- Advising HPS ($95bn under management) in multiple proceedings against Sportcity, a major Dutch gym chain to which HPS financed €130m, following Sportcity's court approval restructuring scheme, for not properly reporting or accounting their figures.
- Advised joint administrators in the suspension of payments (SoP) of Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. (SIHNV) – the total estimated debt (consolidated) was greater than €15bn.
- Advising DSB Bank in a successful offering of a composition plan to a committee of representatives, involving the €650m distribution of post-bankruptcy interest claims to more than 280,000 creditors.
Lawyers
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Practice head
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Christiaan Zijderveld