Linklaters in the Netherlands

We have advised on many of the market-shaping deals in recent times, and our experience in key local and cross-border M&A assignments enables us to advise clients in a way that is focused, efficient and commercially sound.

Our Amsterdam-based team of corporate lawyers and notaries is known for leading groundbreaking, complex legal matters involving amongst others: public M&A, private M&A, joint ventures, governance, shareholder issues, divestments, spin-outs and restructurings. We are at the forefront of developing innovative structures to solve the complexities inherent in corporate transactions. By devising innovative solutions and deal structures, we aim to assist you in staying ahead of your competitors. In addition to our technical expertise, you can rely on our market knowledge and commercially informed advice.

The success of our corporate practice continues to be underpinned by the strength and integrated nature of our team, which, in addition to dedicated corporate lawyers, includes legal specialists in employment, tax and competition.

Key contacts

Jan Willem de Boer, Partner

Guido Portier, Partner

Mariken van Esch, Partner

Our tax practice provides standalone tax advice and supports our world-wide transactional practices, thereby making significant contributions to transactions in which tax considerations play a crucial role. Our team advises world leading corporations, financial institutions and private equity houses on the structuring and planning of domestic and cross-border M&A, joint ventures, capital raisings, financing and refinancing transactions and restructurings. 

The ability to provide our clients with top-quality integrated, tax advice from our Amsterdam office has led to new clients as well as outstanding relationships with clients we have been advising over the years. 

While our tax team operates independently on tax matters, the team is an important part of our international tax network, with over 150 tax experts worldwide advising on all aspects of cross-border advisory and transactional tax matters.

Key contact

Dick Hofland, Partner

Linklaters’ banking practice in Amsterdam advises on a variety of banking and finance-related transactions, advising the banks as well as the corporates involved.

Our local banking team has vast experience in advising financial institutions, equity sponsors and companies on a wide range of banking & finance transactions, from plain vanilla investment grade transactions through to highly complex leveraged deals.
The team has particular expertise in general corporate financings and acquisition financings, loan workouts, leveraged buyouts and restructuring and insolvency.

Advising on both Dutch and English law from Amsterdam, we act for banks and other financial institutions, companies and governments.

Our experience acting for arranging banks and lenders as well as for credit enhancers and borrowers in relation to a wide range of sectors enables us to anticipate and address the requirements of all parties to a transaction.

Key contacts

Paul Kuipers, Partner

Mees Roelofs, Partner

Our local restructuring and insolvency practice has acted on a wide range of transactions for leading Dutch and non-Dutch banks and trustees, including some of the most defining situations in recent times.

Global trend watchers will recall that Lehman Brothers was the largest insolvency in history; our team in Amsterdam was heavily involved on that deal and continues to play an important role in the market-shaping deals globally.

Key banks rely on our experience and technical expertise as they face the new market and regulatory landscape, and continue to trust us with matters of great delicacy, both financially and politically. We are a trusted firm for many high profile clients, who instruct us not only on their own work but also that of their clients.

The maturity of our local practice is evident through the breadth of our client base, as well as the complex, multi-jurisdictional, multi-disciplinary and high profile nature of our work.

Key contacts

Paul Kuipers, Partner

Mees Roelofs, Partner

Linklaters has a market-leading capital markets practice in the Netherlands, with extensive experience in advising both financial institutions and corporate clients on a variety of financings and public and private offerings.

We have worked on many significant Dutch transactions from our local office and our team has extensive experience in drafting public documentation for these deals, coupled with detailed knowledge of Dutch securities laws and local regulation. Our capital markets team is involved in the funding of major Dutch banks, insurers and corporates, and handles debt, equity and equity-linked work, including the corporate law aspects thereof.

The team has particular expertise in:

• bond issues (including hybrid/regulatory capital)
• medium term note and commercial paper programmes
• equity and equity-linked issues
• fund listings
• regulatory advice

Key contacts

Alexander Harmse, Partner

We have been advising both Dutch and international clients from a wide variety of sectors, all with a focus on energy. While we do integrate seamlessly into the global Linklaters network, we also lead many high profile energy-related projects from our office in Amsterdam. Our Dutch energy & infrastructure practice advises on a range of projects, from small scale local to large, complex and multi-jurisdictional projects.

The global energy landscape is continuously changing pursuant to all sorts of developments, whether in the technical area (shale gas) or on the political front (renewable energy). Investors, utilities, developers and alike are continuously looking for opportunities and Linklaters is assisting these parties in achieving their goals, advising on a variety of energy matters.

We continue to be involved in divestments and acquisitions and/or financing of energy assets and the establishment of strategic partnerships in the energy sector. We have also become more and more involved on the renewable energy side and are assisting financial institutions in restructuring their investments in distressed power generation assets. 

Key contact

Gijs Smit, Counsel

Financial institutions are facing increasing challenges to comply with local as well as international financial regulations. At the same time, supervisory authorities have enhanced their enforcement policies and do not hesitate to conduct intrusive and extensive investigations.

Our Dutch financial regulation practice is known for taking on significant instructions, taking a leading role in advising clients on the regulatory aspects of the significant developments in the Dutch market in recent years.

Our approach is simple: we combine a detailed understanding of the financial markets and an international perspective on market practice and the way regulators operate, with specialised knowledge of legal and regulatory considerations. This enables us to approach each client's unique situation in a practical and business-orientated way to ensure compliance and seek new opportunities.

Our clients include local and international banks, payment institutions, insurance companies, investment firms and investment funds, as well as regulators.

We advise our clients on, among others, market access, prudential regulations (including CRD IV/CRR), conduct of business regulations (including MiFID II), governance and fit and proper testing, compliance and integrity-related issues (including AML), fintech, Brexit. We also advise on regulatory investigations, enforcement matters and communications with the regulators.

We also assist clients with application procedures and advise on regulatory aspects of M&A transactions, IPO’s and portfolio sales within the financial sector, including obtaining prior approval from the local regulators or the European Central Bank.

Key contact

Bas Jennen, Partner

Our Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations practice has experience with large-scale claims both domestically and internationally.

The local practice is primarily focused on corporate law and banking, in particular the defence of corporations and banks against class actions, and so benefits from the firm’s leading global corporate and financial client base. The practice also encompasses regulatory litigation and draws on the strong competition and R&I expertise in the office.

In most of our cases, the parties involved are from various countries and some matters are even litigated in various jurisdictions simultaneously. For specific cases we draw upon resources from our integrated global network to form teams tailored to suit the requirements of the matter. This approach allows us to enhance firm-wide experience with local insight and understanding of cultural differences when relevant. Our network provides the basis for managing complex cross-border litigation matters, such as class actions, where a co-ordinated approach may be needed.

Key contact

Daniella Strik, Partner

Gerard Meijer, Partner

Our competition practice allows us to meet the increasing demand for specialist competition advice in the Dutch market.

Our competition practice specialises in European and Dutch competition law, European law, general administrative law and litigation.

While the competition practice operates independently on competition-based matters, the team is also an important, fully integrated element of the service offering we provide to corporate clients from our office in Amsterdam.

Our competition team is embedded in the international competition team that is seated in Brussels. The proximity to and experience with working with the European Commission is a significant benefit to many clients.

The competition team is an important part of the Linklaters’ international competition network, whose unrivalled competition law expertise covers cartels and dawn raids, merger control, competition litigation, market and sector investigations, abuse of dominance, state aid, public procurement and utilities regulation.

Our growing team delivers standalone advice on employment law, pension law as well as transactional support to the firm’s clients.

The team has substantial experience in guiding clients through major corporate restructurings and in advising on employment and pension law aspects of M&A, (boardroom level) employment and pensions litigation, mass dismissals, harmonisation of terms and conditions of employment, executive remuneration, equal treatment and trade union/works council negotiations.

While our employment team operates independently on employment-based matters, the strength of the team has made it an important, fully integrated element of the service offering we provide to clients from our office in Amsterdam.

The practice regularly collaborates with our corporate practice and also works in an integrated manner with the global employment & incentives group, as almost all of our cross-border employment and transactional work involves significant Dutch employment and pension law aspects.

Key contact

Vincent Gerlach, Counsel