Able to draw upon the expertise of a large pool of lawyers across all levels of experience, and also leveraging the firm's unique in-house regulatory and consulting service, Arendt & Medernach can provide 'high-quality tailored solutions' to domestic and international clients across the full scope of their corporate activity. On the M&A front, Bob Calmes is 'hardworking, proactive and smart', traits which endear him to both corporates and funds on high-profile cross-border deals, often involving a US nexus (where he adds insight as a result of his previous role heading the firm's New York office). Laurent Schummer is also a key member of the team and as well as his work for private equity firms and corporates on large-scale transactions, he also excels in helping startups/entrepreneurs from emerging sectors securing investment throughout their growth cycle. Philippe Harles ' 'work attitude, knowledge, and willingness to strike a deal are standout traits', ensuring that his popularity continues to grow among start-ups, funds and corporates across a wide variety of private and public M&A. Team head Carsten Opitz is skilled at handling M&A matters, including those with a German nexus, as well as excelling in corporate governance advice. Founding partner Guy Harles has vast experience in the field and remains a trusted adviser to many corporates as is underscored by several board-level appointments by major clients.
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Profile

Profile

Work Department

Corporate Law, Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity & Real Estate

Position

Bob Calmes is a member of the Corporate Law, Mergers & Acquisitions and the Private Equity & Real Estate practice areas of Arendt & Medernach.

Career

Bob’s practice focuses on mergers & acquisitions, corporate restructurings and the setting up of joint ventures.
He also advises private equity firms, hedge funds and real estate funds on downstream acquisition financing and structuring.

Languages

English, French, German, Luxembourgish.

Memberships

Bob has been a member of the Luxembourg Bar since 2006 and has been heading the firm’s New York office from 2013 to 2017. He is a member of the American Bar Association (M&A Committee: Co-Chair of the European Private Target Deal Point Study; Space Law Committee). Bob has been a lecturer on various topics including cross-border M&A.

Education

He holds a Master’s degree in international law from the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, a degree from the Institut d’Administration des Entreprises (Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne) as well as a Master of Laws degree (LL.M.) from Pace Law School.

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Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'The very responsive and service-oriented team provides high-quality tailored solutions.'
  • 'The excellent team has a depth of experience and lawyers of all levels of qualification who get what is required from them on international transactions.'
  • 'Bob Calmes is hard working, proactive and smart.'
  • 'Philippe Harles' work attitude, knowledge, and willingness to strike a deal are standout traits. He doesn't accept a no for an answer and always thrives to find at least a compromise in case the other party insists on things.'

Key clients

  • 468 Management GmbH
  • Alvotech
  • Majorel Group Luxembourg S.A.
  • Marley Spoon Group SE
  • Nordson Corporation
  • Salonkee
  • SES Astra
  • Spotify
  • STRABAG Property and Facility Services
  • tonies SE

Work highlights

Advised the principal shareholder of Birkenstock Holding plc, funds advised by L Catterton, on the IPO and related pre-IPO restructuring of Birkenstock from a Luxembourg regulatory and corporate law perspective.
Advised Tokeny, a Luxembourg-based enterprise-grade tokenization solutions provider, in the context of a strategic investment by Apex, a global financial services provider.
Advised, as a multi-practice group team, TwentyTwo Real Estate in the context of the largest single-hotel acquisition in Europe of the year.