ALFA International’s Luxembourg member firm DSM Avocats à la Cour advises its clients in all the phases of corporate, commercial and M&A matters. The firm’s services include advice on corporate, commercial, tax and regulatory issues, as well as the execution of due diligence and the drafting of contractual documents and legal opinions.
“Top-notch firm, highly technical and with great service, from beginning til end. It displays a perfect combination of experience and agility.” Legal500 2021
Types of corporate transactions in which our firm has particular expertise
DSM’s multi-lingual corporate transactions team provides broad-based corporate and commercial transaction services, including mergers and acquisitions/divisions, takeovers, debt financing and corporate restructuring, public and private tenders, share and asset deals, joint ventures, liquidations, incorporation of special purpose vehicles in the context of investment and business activity structuring, corporate governance and compliance, managerial and other governing body liability and corporate finance as well as fund and investment management. The team works across several other substantive law areas ranging from real estate and construction, banking and finance, digital technologies and intellectual property, tax law, financial sector regulatory compliance, employment and social security law, life sciences, EU and competition law, as well as restructuring and insolvency.
The size of our firm’s corporate transactions team
DSM’s corporate transactions team includes 3 partners, 2 counsels and 7 lawyers. Partners and lawyers from our other substantive law areas support the corporate transactions team on an as-needed basis, including in tax matters.
Examples of transactions our firm has undertaken/continues to undertake
- Acted as counsel to Luxembourg’s largest and most prominent real estate broker in the context of acquisition of its shares by a large insurance company;
- Acts as Luxembourg corporate counsel to one of the largest pharmaceutical/biotech groups with a turnover in excess of EUR 10 billion. The team advised on various acquisitions for the client which is one of the Top 25 pharmaceutical companies in terms of global sales;
- Advises a large German family-owned business on corporate restructuring valued at approximately EUR 150 million. DSM has been counsel to this client for over 20 years and has several ongoing matters with it;
- Advises a beverage group owned by a German entrepreneur in producing and marketing its brands in the beverage industry with worldwide distribution;
- Acted as counsel for a Luxembourg client in a complex share sale and purchase agreement for the sale of part of its business;
- Formed Luxembourg subsidiaries for large, listed American conglomerates in the energy and vehicle sectors, and provides ongoing corporate support to them with respect to their restructuring needs;
- Formed a Luxembourg subsidiary for a large Chinese bio-pharmaceutical conglomerate and provides ongoing corporate support, including for its restructurings;
- Acted as counsel in the sale and lease of a property transaction valued at approximately EUR 30 million;
- Advises holding companies with several operating companies on all types of legal administration and contractual matters;
- Acted as a seller’s counsel in the sale of various office buildings in Luxembourg and Germany;
- Advises on the acquisition, construction and sale of a real estate project in a town close to Luxembourg City, DSM assisted the client in the acquisition of the land and in renegotiating zoning and planning issues, obtaining a development plan that was adopted by the town council, and then the construction and sale to the final buyers of the units;
- Acted as Seller’s counsel in the sale and transfer of a property company owning a 50.000 sqm real estate project in Luxembourg City, transaction volume in the lower 8-digit EUR region;
- Advises a prominent international group in the acquisition and development of two real estate projects (residential and office) in Luxembourg, project volume in the 3-digit million EUR range. The client is one of Europe’s largest construction companies, listed on the Vienna stock exchange, and employing a total of 73,000 people;
- Advised a joint venture of two well-known real estate developers and construction companies in Luxembourg on a joint venture for a 16.000 sqm office, retail and residential building in the south of Luxembourg. The work involved a complex building structure, and was significant because it mixed building with complex co-ownership regulations and in-depth technical analysis of the building with the corporate transaction;
- Acts as purchaser’s/developer’s counsel in a transaction redeveloping a Luxembourg residential building into high-end residences. The acquisition is complete and restructuring is ongoing. The project is a landmark development located in one of the best locations in the heart of the City of Luxembourg, which has been vacant for decades due to the complexity of the project, and features environmentally friendly facilities;
- Acted as Buyer’s Counsel in the acquisition of a property company owning a building in Luxembourg City (4500 sqm);
- Advises one of the most prominent developers of residential and office projects in Luxembourg and the German border region in several projects, including the structuring and acquisition of new real estate projects, construction litigation, and contractual matters, the client is a reputable firm in cross-border transactions with a wide range of businesses;
- Acts as developer’s counsel in a complex real estate project including securitization financing for the acquisition of two real estate projects and renovation work for a total amount of approximately EUR 12 million;
- Acted as buyer’s counsel in the acquisition of a plot for the construction and development of a landmark building project outside of Luxembourg City;
- Acted as seller’s counsel in the sale of a fully-let 15,000 sqm office building in a Luxembourg business district to an institutional investor;
- Acted as seller’s counsel in the sale of a property company (share deal) owning a fully lit office building;
- Acted as borrower’s counsel in the refinancing of a loan facility related to a real estate project involving the sale of a large building to a sophisticated investor, involving complex structuring for the release of existing securities;
- Acted as buyer’s counsel in the acquisition of a former industrial site to be restructured into a mixed-use development;
- Acts as Luxembourg legal advisor to a multi-national data center developer, including in its international restructurings;
- Acted as buyer’s counsel to a local heating, ventilation and air conditioning company in its acquisition of a local electricity company;
- Acts as advisor to a French supermarket chain in its Luxembourg property acquisitions as it enters the Luxembourg market;
- Acts as Luxembourg legal advisor for a petrochemical industry leader in the sale of one of its entities;
- Acts as Luxembourg legal advisor to a global facility management company, including with respect to restructurings and acquisitions; and
- Acted as seller’s counsel in sale of a family-owned building in downtown Luxembourg to local buyers. The sellers were from the US and Switzerland, and DSM acted as their agent with local real estate agencies proposing the buyers.