Banking and finance: Borrower side – tier 3

“At Lexence, practice head Charles Destrée is acting for Agro Merchants Group on the multi-layered global refinancing of its senior credit facilities. Clients include major private equity firms. The group also handles regulatory matters.”

Banking and finance: Asset finance and structured finance – tier 3

“The ‘sensible’ Charles Destrée leads the ‘solid’ structured and asset finance team at Lexence, focusing on structuring and documenting financing arrangements and mergers and acquisitions, structuring and restructuring investment funds and regulatory advice for financial institutions. He is advising a Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners investment fund on its financing for the acquisition of its public tender offer for VTG Rail.”

Banking and finance: Lender or arranger side – tier 3

“Lexence’s team is led by Charles Destrée. Financing transactions and regulatory issues are areas of strength.”

Commercial, corporate and M&A – tier 3

“Lexence partners Luc Habets, Joost Houtman (leading individual) and Michiel van Schooten are commended for ‘personal, communicative, and fast’ service. The team is also ‘able to think about pragmatic solutions which is often missing from other firms’. Diederick de Boer is also noted for ‘being able to think with the client’. The practice, which has hired a number of new associates of late and has an impressive mid-market presence, counts PostNL Corporate, Synergia Capital, and Dutch Greentech Fund among its clients. Noted partner Wouter Helder led a team that assisted Digital Insurance Group on complex work relating to its collaboration agreement with Zurich Insurance Group.”

Construction – tier 3

“At Lexence, construction, real estate, and leasing experts provide assistance to clients ranging from investment funds and banks to developers, housing corporations, and public bodies. The practice’s client roster includes Rabo Real Estate Group, VolkerWessels, Dura Vermeer, and CBRE Global Investors. In recent work, the team advised a client on aspects of the construction of a complex, mixed-use project involving residential, retail, and underground parking facilities. Ferry van Schoonhoven and Bob Bekker are the senior partners supported by leasing expert Jan-Willem Raadgever.”

Dispute resolution: Commercial litigation – tier 3

“Lexence’s team acts for large corporates in the telecoms, financials and insurance sectors, among others. Co-head Timo Jansen is acting for Vodafone in claims alleging anti-competitive behaviour against KPN. Fellow co-head Bram Thomas Craemer is representing Inreda Diabetics in a shareholder dispute.”

Employment – tier 3

“The practice at Lexence ‘can handle complex cases quickly and effectively’ and is also valued for having ‘an innovative and entrepreneurial’ approach. Judith Schulp’s expertise spans areas including collective and individual employment terminations, reorganizations and the removals of directors and other senior employees. Mark Keuss also has broad expertise and Frank ter Huurne assists on ‘high impact, complex labor law cases’. Senior associate Esther van der Meulen also provides ‘excellent support’. This substantial team serves clients including Allied Telesis International, General Electric, Henkel and SUEZ.”

Environment and planning – tier 2

“The planning and environment department of Lexence is noted for its work in the housing and hotel development and industrial sectors. Team head Michael Klijnstra has expertise spanning zoning, building permits compliance and enforcement as well as issues of soil and air pollution, noise, fire safety and waste. The team is advising Cementbouw on various permitting and zoning issues regarding its cement plants and includes Kroonenberg Groep, Slokker Vastgoed and De Hoge Dennen among its clients. Pelin Oztürk joined the firm from AKD.”

Private equity – tier 4

“Lexence ’s ‘high quality’ team is led by Luc Habets and Michiel van Schooten. Habets assisted Standard Investment with selling its share of a bakery business to Egeria and Van Schooten advised Endeit Capital on making an investment in Chronext, a luxury watch re-seller, for €28m. Wouter Helder and Joost Houtman are also notable names.”

Real estate – tier 2

“Lexence is appreciated for its ‘total commitment, successful outcomes, and good balance between quality advice and tariffs’. Tomas Steenmetser (leading individual) and Ferry van Schoonhoven specialize in commercial leases and attract international corporate clients, especially in the retail industries and referrals from international law firms. Bob Bekker handles a range of real estate transactions and developments and Michiel de Wit is also highly rated for his ‘precision’ and problem solving skills. The team advised Spuistraat 172 Real Estate and STAG Europe (Grafenau) as the sellers and tenants of the W Hotel in a sale and lease back transaction valued at €260m.”