Founded in 1871, Dutch law firm
De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek is headquartered in Amsterdam and has offices in Brussels, London, Shanghai and Singapore.
Focusses / specialisms
De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek has particularly strong M&A, equity capital markets, projects and restructuring offerings.
The work of the banking team often supports other practices in the firm, often acting on financings related to acquisitions. The firm also has a robust projects finance practice and is particularly strong in financing work for borrowers.
The capital markets team advises both corporations and banks on debt, equity and regulatory matters and has top-notch expertise in equity transactions. The firm notably houses the largest pure-play equity capital markets team in the Netherlands.
The firm is regularly involved in the market’s largest M&A transactions and has experience in acting for acquirers and sellers. The firm works for a mix of local and global private equity houses on their strategic investments and divestments, while it also counts the investment arms of Dutch banking groups such as ABN Amro, Rabobank and ING as its clients.
The firm’s market-leading projects team is recognised for its PPP expertise and is experienced in advising stakeholders, including government entities, sponsors, investors, and lenders.
Key clients
Noteworthy clients include Unilever, Royal Vopak, GATE Terminal, Central Bank of Curacao and St Maarten, IHC, GrandVision, and Silverfleet Capital Partners.
Research period review: 31st edition (2020/2021)
The firm performed strongly in M&A during the research cycle, acting on some of the largest and most high-profile deals in the Netherlands. The firm worked on predominantly cross-border transactions for a mix of large buy and sell side clients.
In staffing changes partner Bernard Roelvink departed the M&A team in April 2020.
Deal highlights: 31st edition (2020/2021)
Adevinta €9.2 billion acquisition of eBay Classifieds
AkzoNobel €1.4 billion public offer for Tikkurila
Albert Heijn acquisition of
DEEN Supermarkets
Bergson Holdings €385 million all-cash offer for Hunter Douglas
Covéa $9 billion acquisition of PartnerRe
Just Eat Takeaway.com $7.3 billion all-stock offer for Grubhub
Patrick Drahi €5.7 billion acquisition of Altice Europe
Parcom and Mississippi Ventures consortium
€440 million acquisition of HEMA
Thermo Fisher Scientific €11 billion offer for QIAGEN
Client feedback: 31st edition (2020/21)
"Deep knowledge of local law and local market."
"Impressive to see how the DBBW team is able to make a good, structured and convincing analysis from the enormous amount of information."
"Responsive. Pragmatic. International knowledge and experience."
"High quality of work; good strategic advice also outside legal issues (by Arne Grimme); highly responsive."
"Proactive. Professional. Seamless execution. Practical. Strategic. High-quality. Provide clarity in complex situations. Pleasant cooperation. Provide the full suite of required expertise around multi-disciplinary transactions."
"Good strategic advice; good view on financial aspects; gets deal done; good view on market practice. "
"Responsive. Quick understanding. Hands-on."
"Pleasant. Professional. Knowledgeable. Practical. Makes complex matters easy to understand. Can be pragmatic where needed. Takes a multidisciplinary approach."
"Reinout knows how to keep an overview and structure. The advice is of an excellent level."
"Deep knowledge and experience."
"Extremely well prepared and good eye for detail; good in financial aspects; extremely responsive."
