The Legal 500

Within Banking, finance and capital markets, Eubelius is a second tier firm,

Eubelius stands out for its ‘availability, responsiveness and reliability’, with US/UK banking clients particularly keen on the team’s local standing, especially on complex or delicate work, where the partners’ accessibility and ‘in-depth expertise’ is valued. Head of practice Marieke Wyckaert is ‘always on top of things’; transactional highlights included arranging a €13.5bn corporate credit facility, and a €500m convertible bond issue; the firm’s clients include UCB, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank.

Within Competition, tier 5

Eubelius is praised for ‘very good collaboration’. Hans Gilliams is an ‘outstanding and brilliant lawyer’; he ‘takes into account difficult internal client relationships, and explains things clearly’. The firm is recognised for excellent Belgian domestic competition law and EU experience, especially for state-backed industries, such as SCNB and Belgian Post.

Within Corporate and M&A , Eubelius is a first tier firm,

Eubelius provides an excellent independent alternative to those seeking a premium service in the Belgian market, at all levels of deal. The respected and fast-growing team, with highly admired team leaders Koen Geens and Marieke Wyckaert, advised KBC in its divestment of two credit institutions, worked with ING/Petercam on a €75m bond issue for Banimmo. It also arranged a €299m secondary public offering for electricity supply provider Elia on Euronext Brussels, and a €97.75m IPO for speciality pharma client, Movetis. Frank Hellemans is a ‘top expert who delivers swift, accurate and very useful advice’. Matthias Wauters is also rated by clients.

Within Dispute resolution, Eubelius is a second tier firm,

Eubelius has strong connections across the country’s linguistic communities. Known best for banking, commercial and contract-related litigation, it also regularly acts for public sector bodies. Ignace Claeys, Frank Hellemans and Ludo Cornelis have ‘broad general knowledge, deliver quick and sharp analyses, and are trustworthy’. Patrick Hofströssler is particularly praised for his technical ability, which spans public law litigation, construction cases, and family inheritance-related claims. The team’s arbitration work is impressive and growing.

Within Fraud and white-collar crime, Eubelius is a first tier firm,

Eubelius’ Raf Verstraeten leads the white-collar crime practice, notable for the breadth of work received. With strong links to Belgian regional and state institutions and complementing a mainly corporate client base (including household name privately-owned firms), the team’s experience ranges from public law criminal offences, such as tax and customs fraud, to financial services crimes. Both corporate criminal liability and high-profile individual instructions are handled.

Within Labour and employment, Eubelius is a third tier firm,

Eubelius is noted for its experience in counselling public sector institutions as well as Belgian businesses; examples include the Belgian Ministry of Work, for whom it acts in litigation up to Supreme Court and ECJ level; NMBS (Belgian Railways, on health and safety matters); Devan Chemicals (on international employment matters); and Caterpillar (on litigation, and pensions law advice). Véronique Pertry and Leen Cornil are recommended.

Within Tax, Eubelius is a second tier firm,

Eubelius has been involved in numerous transactions for various clients, where Philippe Hinnekens is the lead contact. Whether real estate tax-related in providing advice relating to a €60m acquisition (through a split property structure) of the Serclaes building from CBRE investors, or in giving advice concerning VAT optimisation, the team’s quality of work is well regarded by leading Belgian corporates, including Elia, Solvay and Warehouses De Pauw.