Paul de Vries
Notaris | Partner
Sectors
Languages
Dutch
English
German
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Paul specialises in public and private M&A and other strategic corporate transactions. He has extensive experience in advising on cross-border restructurings, capital market transactions and public takeover bids, creating joint ventures and complex corporate structures and advising on corporate governance matters. In 2015, he practised in the firm’s New York office.
Furthermore, Paul is a Professor of "Cooperation & Transactions" at Utrecht University (UU), and a frequent speaker and author on topics of company law and corporate governance. He is an editorial board member of Sdu Comments on Company Law, and board member of the Royal Commercial Law Association.
Paul is also part of Houthoff’s multidisciplinary team, with experts in corporate governance and regulatory and corporate litigation, carrying out governance stress tests to improve and reinforce governance practices. Read more about the governance stress test.
Paul is a member of Houthoff's Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
Furthermore, Paul is a Professor of "Cooperation & Transactions" at Utrecht University (UU), and a frequent speaker and author on topics of company law and corporate governance. He is an editorial board member of Sdu Comments on Company Law, and board member of the Royal Commercial Law Association.
Paul is also part of Houthoff’s multidisciplinary team, with experts in corporate governance and regulatory and corporate litigation, carrying out governance stress tests to improve and reinforce governance practices. Read more about the governance stress test.
Paul is a member of Houthoff's Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
Qualifications & Experience
- Ph.D. Company Law (University of Groningen)
- LL.M. Notarial Law (University of Groningen)
- LL.M. Dutch Law (University of Groningen)
- English Legal Methods Summer School (University of Cambridge)
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Advised an ad hoc group of secured lenders to Tupperware Brands Corporation who successfully completed the acquisition of certain key assets of the Tupperware Group, including global rights to the Tupperware brand name and related intellectual property as well as operations in core geographic markets. Operations in these global core markets will continue uninterrupted and customers will be able to purchase products from independent Tupperware sales consultants, Tupperware ecommerce sites and retail partners.
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Assisted, together with Sullivan & Cromwell, e& in forming a strategic joint venture with PPF Telecom Group. e& acquired a controlling stake (50% plus one economic share) in PPF Telecom Group. The transaction value is EUR 2.15 billion, with a potential earn-out of up to EUR 350 million.
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Advised Seek Limited on the sale of Brasil Online Holdings Coöperatief U.A. and Online Career Center Mexico, S.A.P.I. de C.V. to Red Arbor Holding, S.L. for a cash consideration of USD 85 million.
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Represented Fortenova Group, the largest food producer and retailer in South-Eastern Europe with an annual turnover of EUR 5 billion and 47.500 employees, in the implementation of a comprehensive restructuring resulting from the presence of sanctioned debt and equity holders in its capital structure and cross-border litigation in connection therewith.
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Advised Castik Capital on its acquisition of the Andra Tech Group, a leading group of companies specialising in the manufacturing of high-precision, complex components for €500-1000 million.
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Advised Parkland N.V. and Magnus I B.V. on the take private transaction of GeoJunxion through the acquisition of all shares in GeoJunxion B.V. from GeoJunxion N.V.
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Advised, together with Van Bael & Bellis, Sopra Steria Group SA (Euronext Paris), a European Tech leader recognised for its consulting, digital services and software development, on its recommended public offer for all ordinary shares in the capital of Ordina N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam), a Benelux-based consulting and IT services provider.
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Advised in collaboration with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK), TBAuctions Netherlands B.V. on its acquisition of Epic Auctions.
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Advised Loyalty Ventures Inc. and the BrandLoyalty Group on the sale of BrandLoyalty to Opportunity Partners.
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Advised VARO Energy BV on its acquisition of 80% of the shares in Bio Energy Coevorden BV, one of the largest biogas manufacturers in Europe.
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Advised Vestia, once the largest social housing corporation of the Netherlands, with the legal demerger of Vestia into three new social housing corporations. This transaction included the division of Vestia's real estate portfolio, consisting of approximately 65,000 rental units with a value of EUR 11.5 billion.
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Advised European Healthcare Acquisition & Growth Company B.V., a Euronext Amsterdam-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), on entering into a business combination with Croma-Pharma GmbH.
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Advised De Agostini on the EUR 7.2 billion business combination of Pegasus Entrepreneurs with FL Entertainment. Awarded Best ECM Deal 2022 by M&A Community
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Advised Lumileds, a global leader in innovative lighting solutions, in its comprehensive financial restructuring. Lumileds emerged from a Chapter 11, resulting in a leadership transition and a funded debt reduction of approximately USD 1.4 billion.
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Advised Frazier Lifesciences Acquisition Corporation (SPAC), together with Goodwin Procter LLP, on its intended business combination with NewAmsterdam Pharma and listing of the combined entity on Nasdaq.
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Advised a consortium of sellers, including Van Oord Offshore Wind B.V., Investri Offshore B.V. and Green Tower B.V., on the sale of their shares in the Borssele V wind farm to Octopus Energy Generation.
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Advised TBAuctions, a Dutch online auction platform on its acquisition of Klaravik, a Swedish online auction platform.
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Advised Libbey on the sale of its European operations, Royal Leerdam and Crisal Glass, to Anders Invest. Libbey is one of the world's largest glass tableware manufacturers.
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Advised Vauban Infrastructure Partners on the acquisition of Boreal Holding AS, a leading public transport provider in Norway, from Everbright Overseas Infrastructure Investment Fund.
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Advised European private equity firm CastikCapital on the acquisition of TBAuctions, a leading European online auction platform.
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Advised Van Oord Renewable Finance B.V. on the sale and transfer of its (approx.) 10% stake in Blauwwind Management II B.V. and Blauwwind Management II C.V. to a fund advised by Luxcara.
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Advised Ease2pay N.V. on the intended acquisition of Involtum Holding B.V. and capital raise.
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Advised Sportfondsen on the acquisition of Laco. The organisations are focused on managing and operating multifunctional sports, recreation and welfare facilities.
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Advised CSC on the conditional agreement of a recommended public offer for all shares of Intertrust for EUR 20 (cum dividend) in cash per share.
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Advised European Healthcare Acquisition & Growth Company B.V. (EHC), the first operators-led healthcare-focused acquisition and growth company in Europe, on successfully completing its EUR 200 million private placement and listing on Euronext Amsterdam.
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Advised the publicly traded software company Bentley Systems Inc. on the acquisition of Oxplus B.V.
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Advising Thoma Bravo, a leading software investment firm, on its acquisition of Talend, a leader in data integration and data integrity and Nasdaq listed, by means of a cash tender offer at approximately USD 2.4 billion.
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Advised Siemens with its acquisition of Sqills, a leading provider in the provision of cloud-based inventory management, reservation, and ticketing software to public transport operators around the world. The agreed purchase price is EUR 550 million plus an earn out.
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Advised Black Diamond Capital Management, LLC in connection with the acquisition, jointly with InvestIndustrial, of the Phenolic Specialty Resins division and European forest products resins division from Hexion Inc.
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Advised Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp. II, a NYSE-listed special purpose acquisition company, on the merger agreement with Wallbox and Wallbox's listing as a Dutch N.V. on NYSE through the merger.
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Advised B&C Industrieholding GmbH, together with CERHA HEMPEL, on the acquisition of 80% stake in the Schur Flexibles Group, which has an enterprise value of around EUR 900m and four production sites in the Netherlands.
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Advised Siemens with its acquisition of TimeSeries, a leading Independent Software Vendor (ISV) and Mendix partner.
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Advised Exact on the acquisition of Gripp, provider of SaaS business software for professional service companies.
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Advised, together with Goodwin Procter LLP, Qell Acquisition Corp., a publicly listed special purpose acquisition company (Nasdaq: QELL) in connection with the listing of Lilium as a Dutch N.V. on Nasdaq through a business combination with Qell.
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Advised L Catterton on the acquisition of a majority stake in the BIRKENSTOCK Group. Houthoff worked jointly with Kirkland & Ellis on this transaction.
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Advised felyx, an innovative scale-up with ambitious plans for the roll-out of their shared scooter system in Europe by raising new capital from De Hoge Dennen Capital and Anne-Marie Rakhorst.
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Advised Timex Group and its shareholders on the acquisition of a majority interest by The Baupost Group. The existing shareholders of Timex Group retain a substantial interest in the business. Timex Group manufactures and distributes watches under brands as Guess, Versace, Salvatore Ferragamo, Furla and Ted Baker.
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Advised Vermeer Corporation on its acquisition of the electric-powered horizontal directional drilling (HDD) and fluid systems technology from Normag.
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Advised Siemens with its acquisition of Culgi. Culgi provides expertise and develops software solutions for multiscale chemistry simulation, from quantum chemistry to molecular dynamics.
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Advised Castik Capital S.à r.l., a Luxembourg-based private equity firm, on its acquisition of a majority stake in Customs Support Group (CSG).
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Assisted Trustbridge Partners with a USD 200 million follow-on investment in WeWork China.
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Assisted the Salvation Army in setting up the investment fund 'Stichting Leger des Heils WoonVermogen' for construction projects that make a social impact. The 'Stichting Leger des Heils WoonVermogen' is funded by private investors and aims to build 250 residences for vulnerable people in the coming years.
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Advised together with Renzenbrink & Partner, the svt Group, a leading supplier of passive fire protection products and systems with the acquisition of Flamepro. The svt Group is an Ergon Capital portfolio company.
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Advised Doughty Hanson on the sale of Zobele Group to Knowlton Development Corporation. Zobele Group is a world leader in the business segments of Air Care and Pest Control and a global player in Health & Personal Care and Fabric & Laundry Care.
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Advised OLA Electric on the acquisition of electric scooter company Etergo B.V.
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Advised Siemens Nederland with the divestment of its Gas and Power business to Siemens Energy, in preparation of the announced spin-off and listing of Siemens Energy.
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Advised Redefine Properties Limited (listed on Johannesburg Stock Exchange) and European Logistics Investment B.V. (ELI) on the sale of 46.5% of the shares in ELI to Madison International Realty and 2% of the shares in ELI to Griffin Real Estate. Houthoff worked in close collaboration with Rymarz Zdort on this matter.
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Advised Stryker Corporation on its USD 5.4 billion acquisition of Wright Medical Group N.V.
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Advised GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, on the joint venture agreement with Equinix for more than USD 1 billion to develop and operate hyperscale data centres in Europe. The joint venture will acquire two operational data centres in London and Paris and plans to futher develop data centres in Amsterdam, Frankfurt (two sites) and London. Houthoff was co-counsel to Kirkland & Ellis on this transaction.
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Advised Hearst with the purchase of The History Channel Iberia from its A+E Networks joint-venture partner Disney. The History Channel Iberia operates Historia, Blaze and Crimen+Investigación, which are distributed in Spain, Portugal, Angola and Mozambique.
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Advised Latour Capital and Bpifrance (Banque publique d’investissement), together with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, in connection with their consortium acquisition of Plastic Omnium Environment BV, the environment division of Plastic Omnium. The purchase price amounts to €220 million.
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Advised Siemens to found a joint venture with Mitsui Rail Capital Europe (MRCE) for the servicing and maintenance of locomotives. The company will be headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and be named Locomotive Workshop Rotterdam (LWR). The location of the new workshop in the port of Rotterdam will enable rail operators to optimize their long-term planning of necessary service stops for locomotives on their routes.
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Advised Intel Corporation on its tender offer to acquire Mobileye N.V., which has its headquarters and main operations in Israel. Mobileye N.V. is incorporated under Dutch law and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (MBLY.N). The tender offer was announced on 13 March 2017 and valued Mobileye at USD 15.3 billion.
Publications
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17-July-2024
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26-December-2022
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15-August-2022
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29-April-2021
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21-July-2020
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15-May-2020
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24-April-2020
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16-April-2020
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20-March-2020
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11-March-2020
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06-February-2020
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22-November-2019
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22-October-2019
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15-March-2019
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04-August-2018
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09-July-2018
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09-July-2018
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24-October-2017
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27-September-2017
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27-September-2016
