The Legal 500 > Europe, Middle East & Africa > Netherlands > Banking and finance: Borrower side

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek’s practice is led by co-heads Niek Biegman and Menno Stoffer, and has recently grown its Dutch corporate client base. Biegman advised AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group on a series of credit facilities valued at $650m and Stoffer assisted Nederlandse Gasunie with the issuance of €300m medium-term notes, as part of its wider European mid-term note programme. Ferdinand Hengst is also recommended.

Houthoff’s practice is a popular choice for Dutch clients active in a wide range of sectors. Jessica Terpstra advised on the $6bn financing of the merger of CB&I and McDermott. She also assisted Nexperia with refinancing its $800m acquisition financing facility. The practice is headed by the well-regarded Loet Venrooy.

NautaDutilh's ‘responsive’ team is well known for its English and Dutch law capabilities. Walter Schellekens acted for the sponsors of a $1bn reserves-based lending facility for the exploration and exploitation of major oil fields in Nigeria on setting up a Dutch SPV to act as borrower under the facility. Elizabeth van Schilfgaarde, who is based in New York, leads advice to McDermott International on the financing of its acquisition of Chicago Bridge & Iron Company's entire business in an all-stock transaction , valued at $6bn. The group, which is headed by Arjan Pors, includes David Viëtor, who counts Apax partners as a client. Willem Keukens was promoted to counsel in April 2018.

Stibbe's ‘trustworthy and efficient’ team frequently acts for domestic and global corporate clients on a range of financing mandates. Co-head Maarten de Bruin advised Dossche Mills on the financing of the acquisition of Meneba from Dutch private equity firm Nimbus. Fellow practice head  Rein van Helden is acting for Advent International on the financing of its acquisition of General Electric‘s distributed power business. Recent promotions include Robert Steeg to counsel and Suzanne van Boheemen to senior associate. Joannes de Bont has left for Bond Advocaten.

AKD’s department, which is headed by Vincent Bentonville and managing partner Erwin Rademakers, has considerable experience handling cross-border acquisition financing. Jasper Verhoog is another name to note. Cathelijn Frederiks joined the team as counsel in September 2017 from NautaDutilh.

The ‘committed and efficient’ team at Clifford Chance is led by Titus de Vries. He advised The Student Hotel on a financing package linked to achieving environmental sustainability, or ‘green financing’. The well-regarded Mark Huddlestone assisted Varo Energy with the refinancing of existing credit facilities valued at over $1.7bn. In other work, Angela McEwan advised OHI Finance on an €87m facility agreement. Jelle Hofland is another name to note.

The team at CMS assisted Delin Capital Asset Management with its sale of a share and real estate portfolio valued at  €200m to Blackstone affiliates. Led by Eduard Scheenstra, the team is advising Oaktree Capital Management on its investment in Kadans, a property investor and developer. Senior associates Jesler Hartman Kok joined Jan Joris van Kampen from NautaDutilh in June 2017 and March 2018, respectively.

Dentons strengthened its capabilities by hiring Marcel Janssen and a team of four associates from Baker McKenzie  in October 2017. Practice co-head Janssen and Eugenie Nunes advised KKR on its approximately €6.8bn financing to acquire the spreads business of Unilvever. Fellow practice head Jeroen den Hamer is assisting Aroundtown with its €56m financing of four properties for one of its portfolios. Senior associate Jack Schrijver is another name to note in the 'committed' team.

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.

Loyens & Loeff fields a ‘responsive and collaborative’ team that has notable experience in cross-border transactions. ‘Out of the box thinker’ Gianluca Kreuze and Martijn Schoonewille assisted PAI Partners with its public offer, together with British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, for all listed shares in Refresco Group. Practice head Kitty Lieverse led the advice to Carval and its portfolio company RNHB on the acquisition of the entire Roparco mortgage loan business unit of Rabobank. ‘Commercially strong’ senior associate Kim Koops, Sietske van ‘t Hooft and senior associate Sabine Schoute are also recommended.

At Simmons & Simmons, the team handles mandates for large international banking clients that frequently include cross-border elements. Key names include Jan-Joost van Rijsbergen, Marieke Driessen and counsel Frédérique Jacobse. The firm advised Strukton and Sacyr on their bid to build the Hague to Rotterdam motorway. Dirk-Jan Gerrits and Vincent Engel were promoted to supervising and senior associate, respectively.

Stek fields a ‘great’ and ‘very commercial’ team, which is best known for its work on mid-market corporate lending and acquisition financings. Recent highlights include advising Standard Investment on the financing of its acquisition of Riedel from dairy company Friesland Campina, and acting for Boels, a rental company, on its growth refinancing of €2.8m. The ‘excellent’ Maarten van der Graaf, Herman Wamelink, Frans Haak and Sharon Kaufmann lead the practice.

Highly rated for being ‘hands-on and practical’, Van Doorne’s practice has particular strength in healthcare and real estate financing, and handles corporate lending transactions for private equity firms. Co-head Angelique Thiele advised Cromwell Property Group on its financing of commercial property linked to the initial public offering of its real estate investment fund. Fellow co-lead Roel Botter assisted Vrije Universiteit with its €140m financing by the European Investment Bank and BNG Bank for its campus development project. Stefan van Rossum is also noted.

Baker McKenzie’s practice is recommended for its cross-border financial transaction work. Counsel Fedor L Tanke and Philippe Steffens lead the team. Martijn van der Vliet was recently promoted to legal director.

DLA Piper’s team has experience in acquisition financings, especially for private equity clients. Group head Lex Oosterling led advice to Ploeger Oxbo Group and NPM on the financing of the investment by NPM Capital in the Ploeger Oxbo Group. He also assisted Capital Square partners with its financing from a bank consortium to acquire the Aegis Group. Gerard Kneppers and Max Mayer are other names to note.

Eversheds Sutherland (Netherlands) B.V.'s practice is known for its sector expertise in renewable energy and real estate, with work in the latter steadily increasing in the last year. Practice heads Matthijs Bolkenstein  and recently promoted partner Lucas Lustermans advised Alfanar Co on the financing of a solar plant in Egypt and handled a similar project, also in Egypt, for Scatec. Wouter Folkers, formerly a senior associate with the firm, is now with Dutch development bank FMO.

Heussen has steadily grown its banking and finance practice in recent years advising on numerous cross-border transactions. Led by Martijn Koot, the practice assisted Agnico Eagles Mines Limited, a Canadian-based gold producer, as Dutch legal counsel with a third amendment and restatement of a $1.2bn credit agreement. Senior associate Sandy van der Shcaaf and Tim Schreuders make up the team.

Wouter Jongen and Robert Masman head up the borrower side practice at Hogan Lovells International LLP, which has particular expertise in unitranche debt. The team has worked extensively with private equity client Egeria, including handling the refinancing of three of its portfolio companies; Jongen led the advice. In other work, Masman assisted Struik Foods with arranging its club financing. Senior associate Carola Houpst and associate Siddharth Saxena  joined from NautaDutilh and Allen & Overy's Singapore office respectively.