Lawyer Rankings

Netherlands > Banking and finance: Borrower side

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.

Netherlands > Banking and finance: lender or arranger side

Stek‘s team is ‘pro-active and cooperative‘ and ‘thinks in possibilities‘.  Core strengths include corporate lending, healthcare financings and project financings. A major client is Rabobank, which the team advised on an acquisition finance transaction for Avedon of its double acquisition of Visions Connected and Viju. Key names include Maarten van der Graaf, Herman Wamelink, Frans Haak and Sharon Kaufmann, who are heads of team.

Netherlands > Commercial, corporate and M&a

Stek‘s team head Eelco Bijkerk, together with Dierik Cras and Maarten van der Graaf, advise private equity houses, corporates, and financial institutions on M&A and broader corporate law, as well as restructurings. ‘The hands-on attention from the partners results in high-quality legal work with the courage to be pragmatic’. The ‘proactive‘ Bijkerk is acknowledged for providing clients ‘with the comfort that nothing is left behind which should have been dealt with‘. In the renewable energy market, Cras advised the shareholders of Lagerwey, the wind turbines manufacturer, on the sale of their shares to Enercon of Germany.

Netherlands > Private equity

Clients praise Stek for delivering ‘partner attention whenever it’s needed’ and for providing ‘a good balance between legal knowledge and business interest‘. In recent work, Eelco Bijkerk acted for Rotterdam Port Fund on its investment in Tagpoint and assisted Bencis Capital Partners with the sale of a packaging company to Jindal. Dierik Cras, who is noted for his ‘sharp brain‘, is advising Ponooc on the sale of its wind turbines portfolio company. Maarten van der Graaf and senior associate Malu Dijkstra are other names to note.