IFLR 1000
The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms

De Brauw acts for the majority of Dutch blue-chip companies; it has a leading M&A practice and, say partners, easily one of the best equity teams. The profile of its debt and securitisations practice is lower than in equity, however the firm has a strong record on bond issuances and MTN programmes. "They are missing the international link so they have to hook up with US firms, but it does Jumbo issuances for KLM and others and is great at it," says a peer.

One client says the firm was "very effective for time keeping" and "knows what has to be done". "We very much appreciate them," says another, adding that "they can be quite conservative, but in a way this is a good thing." Clients also find the firm's London office useful.

Jan Willem Hoevers advised one of De Brauw's big clients, Royal BAM Group, on its €249 million rights issue underwritten by ING Bank, Rabobank and RBS and also acted on share buy-back programmes of €1 billion each for ASML Holding and Royal KPM. Partner Joos Schutte has a good market reputation and was recently retained by NXP Semiconductors on its IPO on the Nasdaq, raising $476 million. It was one of the very few Dutch IPOs.

Jan Marten van Dijk advised Imtech on a €185 million equity offering through an accelerated book building process to finance an acquisition.

On the debt side, Schutte assisted a Dutch housing corporation establish a €5 billion debt programme for government-backed bonds and Niek Biegman helped TenneT on its €500 million issue of subordinated hybrid notes, establishing a €5 billion EMTN programme and issuing €2 billion of senior notes.

De Brauw is traditionally a corporate firm well embedded with Dutch blue chips. "It is like Slaughter and May in the Netherlands, a blue blood firm," says one competitor. The firm "gets its fair share of stuff" according a peer however there is a criticism that "it is a bit too academic".

"They have a good borrower practice", says a peer, "and their banking practice is very good but not very transactional". The firm has a substantial financial services regulatory practice, especially in enforcement before the financial supervision authority, accompanied by a leading white collar crime team under partner Marnix Somsen.

Menno Stoffer is one of the best known leading partners from the firm. He advised food group Vion on an unsecured €1.1 billion senior credit facility as a refinancing from a syndicate of eleven banks. The deal involved a guarantor structure with 133 companies across ten countries.

Jan Marten van Dijk is well respected for his academic credentials. He helped the government revise a €1.3 billion financing arrangement with the government of Iceland which gave Iceland the ability to guarantee Dutch deposits for up to €20,887 in the Landsbanki bank. He also advised Rabobank on acquisition financing of €1 billion to Achmea, and acted for Gasunie to negotiate an €800 million standby revolving credit facility.

London partner Ernest Meyer Swantée also won banking mandates, advising HSBC in a $300 million syndicated credit facility to CHC Helicopter Group (a deal involving layers of intercreditor agreements and security laws) and BBVA, in a syndicate, on a $500 million refinancing facility to Plaza Hotels and Resorts.

Dutch independent behemoth of corporate and M&A De Brauw moves back up to tier one after almost total market consensus. De Brauw is in bed with a vast majority of Dutch blue-chip companies and in 2010-2011 acted on a string of deals around the billion Euro and above mark.

Nevertheless, a number of peers point out that the corporate team is having a "very difficult time at the moment" and "struggling with strategy". In May 2011 the firm lost leading partner Jan Willem de Boer to Linklaters. Some clients also find the firm at times a bit "academic and rigid".

However, Arne Grimme is widely recognised as one of the top M&A lawyers in the country. "Very good, quite pragmatic, very fast in turning documents, pleasant to work with, will focus on the important areas of a deal and knows what is important and what is not," says a peer. He recently advised Smit Internationale on the €1.35 billion public offer by global dredging company Royal Boskalis Westminster.

Dieter Wolf assisted AkzoNobel on its divestment of the National Starch business to Com Products International for €1.4 billion and Dutch blue-chip Philips Electronics on its acquisition of Indian kitchen supplies company Preethi. Paul Cronheim represented Corio on its €1.3 billion acquisition of four shopping centres in Germany, Spain and Portugal from Multi Corporation, the largest real estate deal in Europe, and advised Océ on a €1.5 billion public tender offer by Canon.

Corporate governance expert Jaap Winter was engaged by Philips-Van Heusen Corporation on its €2.2 billion acquisition of the Tommy Hilfiger Group and the firm was won mandates from NXP Semiconductors, on the divestment of its US based global Sound Solutions business to Dover Corporation for $865 million, and Teleplan International, on a €150 million public offer by Gilde.

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek often acts on the public side on projects with the City of Amsterdam being one of its currently most active clients.

Menno Stoffer advised the City on the acquisition of 23 subway trains and train parts from Alstom in order to replace existing trains and was busy in mid-2011 on an on-going tender for signalling and control equipment. Bommel Van der Bend was also advising the City on the renegotiation of existing contracts to minimise financial risk.

Arguably one of the firm's headline deals has been the A12 motorway, in which Stoffer advised the European construction BAM, which is doing the expansion works, on the financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and others in an international syndicate.

A prestigious deal saw Van der Bend acting on a second tender attempt, after the first failed, for the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG) in matters relating to the construction of a nuclear plant, including contracting, finance and procurement issues.

The firm had its fingers in a number of other pies, assisting Dutch Air Traffic Control on financing matters for the US lease of its air traffic control equipment and Electrabel in relation to investments in two global carbon funds, which it made to comply with EU emissions trading regulations. The firm has recently added some associates with projects expertise, namely Daniel Santurio Gonzales from Pels Rijken.

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek has over the last few years taken a number of blows to its restructuring and insolvency practice. The formation of Resor two years ago, which took leading partner Jako van Hees and others, and in 2011 the loss of the new head of R&I Jan Willem de Boer to Linklaters is often brought up by commentators.

"They don't have the capability anymore at the level they used to," believes one peer. However another argues that "they have a number of well-regarded partners still there," but, "it will take time". The firm's position in the Dutch market and relationship with Dutch blue-chips means that it cannot be written off, and the firm's deal list for 2010-2011 is an indicator that the firm continues to win significant restructuring mandates.

Ruud Hermans leads the practice, and in standout deals he recently advised Almatis alongside global counsel Gibson Dunn & Crutcher on the Dutch aspects of its worldwide restructuring. It was the first Netherlands-based operating group of companies to go through US Chapter 11 proceedings, and Hermans was the management's key strategic advisor. The firm successfully represented Almatis twice before the Dutch Enterprise Chamber.

Hermans also advised a group of Dutch commercial banks: ING Bank, Rabobank, ABN AMRO, Fortis Bank, NIBC, SNS REAAL and Van Lanschot, on how to minimise their exposure in the bankruptcy of DSB Bank. The banks are the largest creditors in the bankruptcy and have to fund a €3.4 billion under a guarantee deposit scheme. The work is ongoing.