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

The Dutch banking market has been fairly uncertain in the run up to the summer of 2011, but local partners were very positive.

"The atmosphere is rather more positive, especially in the last six months. We are not sure what effect Greece will have," says a partner, who adds that "Greece has been creating uncertainty for banks which have been getting a more positive mind-set and want to do things at a fast pace while in the meantime money is still quite cheap".

A number of corporate financings were completed in just four weeks, namely for TNT, Philips and KLM, and overall there have been quite a few high profile corporate financings: "We are seeing the need to support M&A activity and we are back in the world of bids and auctions," says a partner.

Dutch banks are back up and running since the bankruptcy in 2009 of DSB Bank. One of the biggest banks Rabobank continues to enjoy a AAA rating and "is solvent and active in the mid-market," says a partner, while BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank "are taking some aggressive steps" and ABN AMRO "is back, but a shadow if its former self". ABN AMRO, Rabobank, ING Bank and NIBC have been active in acquisition financing. "ING Bank got help from government so they are under pressure to lend" says a partner, while another adds: "ING is under explicit pressure to lend an additional €20 billion." Firms note that RBS has pulled out of leveraged financing and is focussing on the UK market with "issues of its own".

In general, partners note that the lee time on deals is slightly longer and banks are chasing the same good deals. The overriding perception is that some Dutch banks "are struggling and can't provide leverage, so we are seeing a lot of club loans – not the red tape of syndicated loans - and borrowers are reluctant to accept stringent terms". "Good borrowers have power, and bad borrowers have no chance," says a partner.

Firms report that "the leverage loan pipeline is starting to fill while pure leveraged financing is currently patchy at the moment", and that private equity is poised for activity. "They are sitting on war chests, they haven't been able to invest so are waiting to strike and looking to do it quickly". "We are anticipating a very busy summer with a wall of debt maturing in 2012 and 2013 and there will be a need to refinance and probably restructure a lot of private equity deals," says a partner, "we expect to get back to 2007 levels".

According to another partner, "leverage finance, recapitalisations and covenant lights are back, and at the same time there are fewer banks. The international banks have gone back to deal with their domestic markets, and Dutch banks doing the Dutch market".

Real estate has been slow, although firms are predicting a lot of refinancing, and new rules regarding hospital financing have obliged hospitals to turn to the market, opening up a new sector.

A&O is regarded throughout the market as having a leading practice and it has a strong competitive advantage on cross-border deals with integrated Dutch and UK law practitioners. Peers say the firm is "dominant locally", and "very pragmatic, very swift, very quick, good for both sides and clearly number one".

According to one client who has engaged a number of the market's best firms, A&O is "very well engaged on banking; they are the best in the field and they have individuals with perfect track records". Another client concedes that the firm "are not cheap but they do deliver value", adding: "We have done cross border work with them and it was flawless." The firm also has a large civil law and real estate notary practice.

One bank says of the firm's lender side expertise: "A&O are definitely the most professional firm we've come across, they don't just facilitate the documents but are actively involved in trying to get the best deal for the banks and avoid pitfalls."

One of the firm's biggest deals saw Ben Fox and Max Mayer help an ING and RBS led consortium finalise a €1.13 billion finance facility to TenneT Holding in June 2010. The pair subsequently closed €285 million of refinancing and new lending for borrower Reggefiber and subsidiaries from institutions including the European Investment Bank (EIB), to develop a fibre optic home network in the Netherlands.

The firm was active in acquisition finance, with Andrew Thomas advising 3i on a €150 million syndicated acquisition financing to purchase Stork Materials and Technology Group from Stork, Niels du Ru helping Oranjewoud on €97 million in acquisition and bridge financing for its acquisition of Strukton Groupn and Femke Bierman representing a syndicate including Rabobank, ABN AMRO and Friesland Bank on €250 million loan to Gilde Buy Out Fund for its acquisition of the Roompot group.

According to peers Clifford Chance is "the best in the market". One rival firm says "we act for borrowers quite a lot and when we are asked which lawyers banks should use we recommend Clifford Chance, there is clear water between them and others". Mark Huddlestone and Jelle Hofland are highly recommended as "both great lawyers" by peers.

Commentators note that the firm has cut down in numbers, however it remains dominant locally. Boris Bas Visser is recommended by one client for acquisition finance: "He is really good, very sharp, knows about what happens in the market." Senior associate Jan-Joost van Rijsbergen is also recommended by one client.

Possibly the highest profile acquisition financings the firm worked on were advising ABN AMRO and Rabobank on the financing for the public takeover of Teleplan International by Gilde Buy Out Partners, ABN AMRO, HSBC, Rabobank, BNP Paribas and Fifth Third Bank on the financing for 3i's acquisition of Stork Materials Technology and Rabobank and NIBC on financing the acquisition of Struktoen Groep by Oranjewoud.

The firm won a number of mandates to handle refinancings, among the most important being advising ING on a $3.14 billion credit facility and €24 million refinancing, and Standard Chartered on a $1 billion refinancing, for Trafigura Beheer. It also acted for Leaseplan on a €1.48 billion revolving credit facility by ING and RBS among others, to refinance an existing facility. Huddleston and Bas Boris Visser advised on the deals.

Another refinancing of note saw the firm act for RBS as coordinating bookrunner on a €450 million multicurrency revolving facility agreement for Koninklijke Ten Cate. The firm also handled a large number of asset financings, most notably for KLM and Transavia, as well as real estate and export financings. Partner Angela McEwan also handled a string of financings for FMO and Rabobank.

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.

According to peers, Linklaters "is one of the strongest". The firm does "UK law and big ticket work," says one peer, while others recognise that it has "a good position with RBS especially" and does "a lot of big finance restructuring work". One direct competitor says: "we like them a lot and relate work to them," while another concedes that the firm is "very strong with Dutch banks".

The criticism is that the firm has a "thin" team, although with three partners and 17 associates it is hard to see why. Peers also note that it has been working hard to increase market share. "Onno Bakker is a nice guy, quite practical... he moves towards doing a deal". "He is a very good lawyer," says another peer, "understated but a great market presence and good attitude; he puts his heart and soul into his business".

The firm handled a number of high value or high profile deals. Bakker advised Cooperatieve Centrale-Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank as coordinator of a €206 million refinancing of a revolving credit facility to Macintosh Retail Group and represented RBS and ING on a €1.48 billion revolving credit facility to LeasePlan.

The Dutch office was involved in huge cross-office efforts to advise RBS and ABN AMRO on a €700 million refinancing to BDR Thermea Group and North Sea Group on refinancing just shy of €500 million by a group of lenders. Bakker led another team to advise ABN AMRO, Raiffeisen and ING for staple financing to Maxeda Fashion Group and closed a deal for RBS in February 2011 on a €1.2 billion syndicated backstop facility to Vopak.

Loyens & Loeff gets strong feedback from the market. "Very commercial firm so hats off to them," says one peer, "they do a good job of chasing clients down; they've built a good reputation, they're not desperately aggressive, and they have a large corporate and private equity client base from their tax core".

Clients say Gianluca Kreuze, who made partner in 2010, "has lots of energy, is practical and talented," while Kitty Lieverse "is very knowledgeable when it comes to regulatory work, very exceptional". "A very good law firm in banking, they have done extremely well," says a peer, "they do a lot of interesting transactions especially for Dutch lenders; they really know what they are doing and have done some good work for sponsors and local and European private equity funds".

Willem Jarigsma, who one peer says is "very capable on acquisition finance", advised ING Bank on a €55 million acquisition financing to an asset-light business and MCB International on a €230 million asset-backed bilateral facility from Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank, ING, KBC and ABN AMRO.

Jarigsma also acted for Koninklijke Volker Wessels on a rare forward start facility for €680 million and for Nieuwe Steen Investments on a €250 million real estate financing. Ship finance expert Krueze advised ABN AMRO on two large ship financings of $198 million and $120 million to Vroon and Nile Dutch, respectively.

Associates Kees Hooft, Jan Willem Möller, Wytse Huidekoper and Vilmar Feenstra supported on all the deals.

NautaDutilh has one of the biggest teams in the market for banking and finance. The firm loses out to its global competitors on the big ticket multijurisdictional deals but is very entrenched in some niche areas, and above all it has a very strong regulatory practice under Pim Rank and Erik Geerling. Some competitors believe the firm "is more domestic with local counsel work" but none argue with the volume of transactions it turns over.

Thijs Lommen comes highly recommended "for certain types of transactions" says a client. "Very good in real estate and healthcare, not a shark, in these new markets where clients are facing LMA documents they need to get acquainted with you need someone who can think from the clients' perspective".

London partner Arjan Pors acted as Dutch counsel to private equity group HG Capital for the financing of an on-going acqusition of a 61% stake of ATC Group. David Viëtor and Teun Struycken were engaged by Kirkland & Ellis to provide Dutch law advice on the €1.2 billion refinancing and restructuring of the European Directories Group, one of the largest in Europe.

Diederik Vriesendorp closed a €700 million refinancing for BDR Thermea Group, an example of a high value deal with NautaDutilh as leading counsel. Walter Schellekens acted as lead counsel to advise ING Bank and Rabobank on a €210 million refinancing for Deloitte Netherlands.

Lastly, Pim Rank advised ABN AMRO on the reintroduction of Turbos into the market and the Netherlands Central Bank in negotiations with the Icelandic government to try to recuperate losses of €1.3 billion to depositors of Icesave.

According to the market Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is slightly less prominent in banking than in other areas. The team in Amsterdam is a compact outfit but it has the advantage of a strong corporate wing with big clients and a huge presence in London, where many large banking deals emanate.

Thijs Flokstra, who spends much of his time on equity capital markets work, leads the generalised finance department. According to one peer Flokstra is "responsive and clever; we do recommend his name". One competitor says the firm has "a fairly small team which acts mainly on the corporate side," a comment that has some truth in it although the firm does also advise some key banking clients including ING Bank and Rabobank. Another client says the firm is "very efficient and good timing wise" and "exactly the same approach as in London".

Arguably one of the firm's key banking deals saw Flokstra advise Boskalis on the refinancing of a bridge loan which was replaced by a US private placement programme, having earlier in the year advised in financing for Boskalis' acquisition of Smit International.

Flokstra also advised Novagraaf Group on adjustments to an €85 million financing as part a group restructuring and was engaged by ING Bank and Rabobank on the PIK acquisition finance facility for an affiliate of Gilde Buy-Out Partners on the public bid for shares in Gamma Holding. Flexing its cross-border muscles, the firm worked with the London office to advise the mezzanine and junior mezzanine lenders on the restructuring of Almatis.

Houthoff Buruma has a solid presence on big ticket mainstream banking deals, but it is the firm’s ability to leverage off its bankruptcy and real estate practices that keeps its name up there. Commentators expect a lot of refinancing and restructuring in real estate in 2011-2012 so Houthoff should be well placed.

Loet Venrooy has a very good reputation. "Ten years ago not much there, but since Venrooy joined from Simmons & Simmons they have really developed a banking team in real estate and now it regularly advises ING Real Estate on a lot of its Dutch deals," says a client.

Another client says Venrooy "negotiated well and knows how to switch between core issues and miscellaneous issues... he is a good negotiator [with] a keen eye for real issues". Another says Venrooy is "very capable of technical work, drafting is quick and adequate, pleasant to work with, capable of managing a deal in an efficient way and keep a good spirit in negotiations".

Venrooy advised Royal Bank of Canada on a €900 million acquisition facility to Dana Petroleum, and won mandates from Cool Cat to finance its acquisition of MS Group, and from Maxeda and private equity firm Egeria on financing for its acquisition of Den Haven Group. London partner Jessica Terpstra acted for Doughty Hansen on a €100 million loan for its acquisition of Equity Trust.

Venrooy was also assisting the trustees of DSB Bank on a €1 billion real estate credit from a group of Dutch banks. In real estate, the firm advised Amvest on €430 million loan from ABN AMRO and ING Real Estate.

Simmons & Simmons keeps its place in the rankings. The banking practice is managed by Daphne Brinkhuis, who acts on most of the top deals, while her team also counts on the support of partners with generalised practices (especially in tax and insolvency).

Competitors note that the firm does not appear often on big ticket transactions however through 2010-2011 it did handle a number of large financings and refinancings.

The highest value of these was advising Coöperatie AVEBE on a €250 million facility agreement with ABN AMRO and Rabobank, while another other high value deals saw the firm act for Refresco on a €140 million acquisition and revolving credit facility from ABN AMRO and Rabobank.

The firm also advised ING Bank, ABN AMRO and Deutsche Bank on a series of refinancings for a group of companies owned by Dutch private equity firms. Showing versatility, the firm also advised on a substantial straight financing, representing Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation on loans of €50 million and €30 million to Denso Europe and Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift Europe.

Stibbe maintains its position in the market. "They understand the business we do and the expectations we have so they can get the proper finance for us," says one client, with another adding: "they are dedicated, if I ask them a question I want a response within a day and they can do that". Nevertheless financing and banking "is not really a key strength of Stibbe's," says a client.

Jaap Willeumier, "a very good technical lawyer" who "does what you ask him to do and when you ask him to do it" says a client, led on all of the big deals, often with senior associate Joannes de Bont supporting. Hans Witteveen leads the finance group in London. The firm acts more often on the borrower side and about a quarter of its resources are aimed to bank regulatory under Rogier Raas.

On the most standout deals saw the team advised TomTom, securing a forward start agreement on for a €250 million term facility and €150 million revolving facility to mature in 2016. In December 2010 the firm sealed another finance deal for Wavin, which comprised amendments, restatement of and a forward start facility agreement totalling €475 million.

In December 2010 Willeumier advised Marel on a €350 million refinancing agreement and troubled company Gamma Holding on three facilities totalling €295 million from a group of banks. The firm also acted in a real estate financing (and new money deal), advising NIBC Bank and a consortium of lenders on a €320 million loan to property fund Amvest.

On the regulatory side the firm continues to advise NYSE Euronext (it has been Euronext's counsel since its inception).

"Van Doorne has a very good network for international deals and referrals," says one competitor, while peers in general point out that the firm has been very successful in attracting referrals from US firm on large international deals.

Although some competitors speculate that the firm is "only referrals", the team has been successful as lead counsel especially on hospital and property financings. Stefan van Rossum is well respected in banking. "We were very happy with him, he did all the work perfectly and was especially good in negotiations with other law firms which represented the banks," says a client.

Van Rossum led a team to advise GSO Capital Partner alongside global counsel White & Case on the $1 billion financial restructuring of the Almatis Group (the Netherlands-based aluminium producer). Working with Kirkland & Ellis and Weil Gotshal & Manges the firm advised Bain Capital and Advent International on financing for the acquisition of an 80% stake in WorldPay (valued at $2 billion), which includes Netherlands-based Bibit.

One the firm's most standout mandates as lead counsel, Van Rossum acted for MultiLease on a €105 million asset-based revolving credit facility from Deutsche Bank, NIBC and Rabobank, while Evert Wiggers advised Aareal Bank on the refinancing of the acquisition of Europe Hotel Portfolio and refinancing for the Hilton Hotel in The Hague.

Roel Botter was also engaged on a number of financings for hospital projects which involved straight loans for working capital.

According to market feedback Baker & McKenzie has some work to do to push itself closer to the front of the banking stage and in late 2010 and early 2011 it seemingly began to make that move. It recruited finance partner Corinne Schot and five new associates, including Schot's right hand man for project finance Hans Schober, from Houthoff Buruma.

Schot and Schober are primarily project finance, but they will support the current head banking partner Fedor Tanke, who is well liked by clients.

"Tanke's knowledge and skills are very very good," says a client, who adds that the "commitment and resolve in the company is very good, I can always contact them on evenings, weekends and holidays". One client warns that cost may be an issue for mid-sized companies: "the cost was very very high, a lot of fees and the process could have been handled more efficiently," but that "quality was good and time scheduling good".

In early 2010 Schot and Schober advised General Motors on financing of €75 million on the acquisition of its shares in Saab Automobile by Spyker and Philippe Steffens and Natusia Szelinga advised DBS Bank on two aircraft financings for two Airbus A321-200 planes to be leased to Vietnam Airlines and one A330-300 to Virgin Atlantic. Steffens is one of the global relationship officers ING Bank.

Tanke advised Mexx Europe International on a $500 million refinancing of an existing revolving credit facility by a large syndicate including JP Morgan and Bank of America. The firm acted for two large construction and real estate companies, Aan Stegge Verenigde Bedrijven (which has 60 subsidiaries) and Iesselholtinck, on refinancing deals of just over €20 million each.

AKD has been working hard to occupy a bigger space in banking. The firm is in the process of moving into to more beneficially placed office in Amsterdam (for which it will share a building with Deloitte) and it has been marketing to international banks and US companies.

AKD, which has four offices in the Netherlands, was engaged on some notable referrals and in fact it was referrals, the most recent of which in January 2011 when Vincent Bettonville led a team to act as Dutch counsel to Jones Day for Exide Technology on a €200 million credit facility from a syndicate of banks led by Wells Fargo Capital Finance.

Another notable deal saw closed in November 2010 when Bettonville worked with Travers Smith to advise Benson Elliot Capital Management on a €100 million loan from a syndicate of banks led by Bank of America and Sumitomo Mitsubishi. Other referrals were won from Macfarlanes and Foley & Lardner on high value revolving and syndicated facilities for JDR Cable Systems and A.O. Smith from international banks among them HSBC and Wells Fargo Bank, respectively.

The firm's most standout deal as lead counsel saw Bettonville acted for STMicroelectronics on a €350 million financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Vincent Bettonville (Leading lawyer bio)

Boekel de Nerée has a good name in the market for real estate financing and regulatory. Angelique Thiele has an active niche practice in property and is individually ranked very highly in the Netherlands in local league tables. Hans Sachse heads up the banking team along with Jan Broekhuizen, who leads on a good number of the firm's standout deal.

The firm also got its fair share of referral work, acting alongside Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker to advise Capita Asset Services on the €1.2 billion restructuring of mortgage loans leased to the Karstadt department store (now in administration) and Calfee, Halter & Griswold for Invacare Group's $400 million revolving credit facility.

As lead counsel, Thiele advised the firm's regular client Eurohypo in March 2011 on its €176 million participation in a JP Morgan arranged loan and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank on a €135 million refinancing of the Hanzevast Capital Group, closed in September 2010. Possibly the biggest deal for the firm, saw Thiele act for Rabo/Bouwfonds European Real Estate Parking Fund on a variety of financings, some arranged by WestImmo, totalling €770 million. The deal was on-going in mid-2011.

According to peers CMS Derks Star Busmann has a low profile in mainstream big ticket banking. Nevertheless, a few developments last year were in its favour. It has been selected to the panel for ABN AMRO and RBS and recently recruited experienced banking senior associate Harold Tuinstra from Loyens & Loeff.

With its network, the firm is also able to handle cross-border deals.

On one of its biggest deals, in December 2010 Eduard Scheenstra and associate Duco Postma acted a lead counsels to Olympia Nederland Holding on a €25 million refinancing transaction by NIBC Bank, marking the final stage in Olympia's restructuring opposite Clifford chance.

The firm also handled a confidential but large financing for a Dutch property developer and acted alongside a US firm in a high value refinancing. The firm has a good relationship with the German market.

DLA Piper is mentioned for the first time following wide market recognition. "We see them a lot in banking and in M&A," says one competitor, "they have really scaled up their practice and they are very effective". The firm is reputedly searching the market for a banking partner.

Another peer comments that much of the banking work done by DLA Piper is "in order to serve their M&A practice". Nonetheless the market recognition is noted.

Norton Rose has not yet entered the main arena for banking unlike in the project finance market. Competitors have a mix of responses for the firm's banking team, with one camp saying that it "acts often for banks and is close to all the former Fortis Bank people" and the other commenting that "they do some asset finance but have not put reserves into it".

Competitors recommend Paul Vine, Wouter Hertzberger and Gijs van Leeuwen. The firm keeps its place in the rankings.

Kennedy Van der Laan's banking expertise is led by Bart de Man, who leads on the vast majority of the firms deals with the support of Joris van Horzen. The firm is on the panel for ABN AMRO, which is has recently represented in litigation and where Van Horzen has worked on secondments.

In standout cases, the firm worked with the US office of Dechert to advise IMPSA on a $390 million bond issue and worked with Skadden Arps to assist Ball on a $1.3 billion refinancing transaction from Deutsche Bank. The firm also received mandates from Pinsent Mason and Winston & Strawn on a series of financing transactions between €20 million to €500 million.

The firm, led by German speaking Marcel Willems, also recently advised Surinaamse Bank on a €125 million financing.