The teams advising on real estate projects are growing bigger all the time, and the legal aspects are increasingly important. PropertyNL investigated thousands of transactions with an underlying value of € 42 billion in the Netherlands in 2007 and the lawyers and civil-law notaries involved in them. Gepubliceerd in PropertyNLMagazine Nr. 4 - 10 Maart 2008
The teams advising on real estate projects are growing bigger all the time, and the legal aspects are increasingly important. PropertyNL investigated thousands of transactions with an underlying value of € 42 billion in the Netherlands in 2007 and the lawyers and civil-law notaries involved in them.
Gepubliceerd in PropertyNLMagazine Nr. 4 - 10 Maart 2008
Growth has continued
1 (1) 12306 Loyens Loeff
Reported transactions: 11256
Estimate of confidential transactions 1050
The surprising number one on our list last
year. It was a surprise because with 173 lawyers
Loyens Loeff is only the fifth-ranked general
law firm in the Netherlands and many
people were also unaware of its leading
position in the real estate segment. However,
Loyens Loeff is a far larger organisation
(800) if civil-law notaries and tax advisers
are counted. In 2006 the firm sustained
its growth in the field of real estate and
expanded its ‘Industry Group Real Estate’.
This industry group, which is still headed
by civil-law notary/partner Wilfred Groen
in Amsterdam, now has 105 advisers in
the Benelux and in Germany. The Frankfurt
office was expanded with real estate
experts in 2006.
The real estate expertise in the Belgium and
Luxembourg offices was expanded and the
firm introduced an exchange programme
with firms specialising in real estate in the
United Kingdom. The team was further
strengthened with the arrival of tenancy law
specialist Paul Visser and building law expert
Ingmar de Groot (both formerly with
Boekel De Nerée) and Linda Grootendorst
in Rotterdam. Someone who had moved
over earlier from Boekel De Nerée was
Bram Linnartz, whose deals in 2006 included
the purchase of Haagse Poort from
KanAm for Evans Randall (€ 203 million),
the purchase of the Mazars Towers and the
ABN AMRO Bank in Amstelveen by New
Star for € 150 million and the sale by RJS
of Silver Tower on Beatrixlaan in The Hague
(€ 82 million). He advised SEB on the
acquisition of the property known as Fifty-
Two Degrees in Nijmegen and the Minerva
and Mercurius buildings in Amsterdam
Zuid-Oost from Eurocommerce for a combined
total of € 181 million.
The group has always been strong in transactions,
property development, building
law and letting, but is now also focusing on
areas such as fund creation, securitisation/
CMBS and financing.
Active in major deals
2 (5) 6090 Stibbe
Reported transaction volume 5890
Smaller transactions and estimate of confiden
tial transactions 200
Stibbe is the sixth-largest law firm in the
Netherlands with 155 lawyers and is also
one of the fastest-growing firms. Relatively
speaking, its Real Estate Transaction Group
(RETG), with 20 experts in the various
fields, gives it an even stronger position in
real estate. It has also formed a European
Real Estate Group with Herbert Smith in
the UK and Gleiss Lutz in Germany. Joop
Janssen (chairman), Paul Quist and Maarten
de Bruin, who used to work at the New
York office, are the best-known lawyers.
Stibbe was heavily involved in five deals in
2006, which cannot be counted because of
their long-term nature. Stibbe advises the
Dutch government on the Zuidas, while its
major ‘work in progress’ is its advice on the
second Coen tunnel. The firm is also engaged
in the major redevelopments in Amsterdam
Noord and the city centres of
The Hague and Nieuwegein for ING Real Estate.
Stibbe is also the contact point for the redevelopment
of a Germany military barracks
into housing for property developer Van der
Looy. The team was recently strengthend
with the arrival of a well-known lawyer from
the ranks of Simmons & Simmons.
A neck-and-neck race
3 (2) 4572 Houthoff Buruma
Reported transaction volume 3712
Smaller transactions and estimate of confidential
transactions: 860
Houthoff Buruma is the second-ranked
law firm in the Netherlands in terms of the
number of lawyers (242). Its Real Estate
division is one of the largest in the Netherlands
with around 90 lawyers. Most experts
therefore feel that it is a neck-and-neck race
between Houthoff and Loyens for the dominant
position in real estate with the leadership
constantly changing hands. We merely
observe that according to our measurement
method the situation is somewhat different.
This may be due to the types of large project
in which Houthoff is involved. For example,
not counted here are its contribution to the
Zuidas programme, where Houthoff acts as
‘lead counsel’ and adviser to the municipality
of Amsterdam, ING Real Estate, ABN
Amro and Rabo/Bouwfonds. The largest
redevelopment project in the Netherlands,
Nieuw Crooswijk, involving the demolition
of 1800 homes, also falls outside the scope
of this survey.
Houthoff Buruma figures strongly in this
survey with transactions with Credit Suisse,
many German partners and Delta Lloyd.
Prominent in real estate
4 (3) 3856 Boekel De Nerée
Reported transaction volume 3856
The researchers for Legal500 place this
firm firmly at the head of the list for real
estate. Boekel De Nerée (BDN) is only the
15th largest law firm in the Netherlands with
106 lawyers but it occupies a far stronger
position in real estate. It has a team of sixty
lawyers and civil-law notaries headed by David
van Dijk. In 2006 the firm provided important
specialist advice for NIBC’s ‘small
CMBSs’ programme and on securitisation
of loans by the Quion Group.
Part of an international network
5 (12) 3143 Clifford Chance
Reported public transaction volume 2691
Smaller transactions and estimate of confidential
transactions 452
Clifford Chance, the largest international
law firm in the world, is placed tenth
in the general ranking of law firms in the
Netherlands with 127 lawyers. According to
the firm itself, it has 159 lawyers. The firm
also has the Amsterdam Real Estate Group,
which acts for important Dutch and international
companies.
The biggest transaction in 2006 was the advice
the firm provided for Vendex KBB on
the sale of its real estate to Bouwfonds (IEF).
Other major transactions were the purchase
of the Amstel Hotel and six other hotels by
Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund and the
work performed by partner Alistair McGillivray
in the refinancing of Landal Greenpark,
according to K Data to the tune of €
70 million (Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank).
Clifford Chance also acted for AIG in
the acquisition of the Tasman portfolio.
In the premier league of real
estate advisers
6 (6) 2551 Allen & Overy
Reported transaction volume 2404
Smaller transactions and estimate of confiden
tial transactions 147
Allen & Overy occupies eighth place in the
rankings of law firms in the Netherlands
(144 lawyers). The firm joined the premier
league of real estate advisers with its advice
for ABN AMRO on the sale of Bouwfonds.
Morgan Stanley is also a regular client and a
number of large national and international
private clients in the real estate world also
found their way to Apollolaan in 2006. The
practice group was strengthened in 2006 with
the arrival of Arent van Wassenaer, an expert
in the area of property development, publicprivate
partnerships (PPPs) and tenders.
Full service in almostevery area of law
7 (11) 2498
AKD Prinsen Van Wijmen
Smaller transactions and estimate of confidential
transactions: > € 1 billion
AKD Prinsen Van Wijmen is the fourth-largest
law firm in the Netherlands in terms
of the number of lawyers (193 lawyers) and
was formed from the merger of a number of
long-standing firms. AKD itself says it has
230 lawyers and civil-law notaries working
at its offices in Amsterdam, Breda, Eindhoven,
Rotterdam and Brussels.
AKD provides a full-service concept in practically
every area of law. From a position of
complete independence and autonomy, the
firm has formed a strategic alliance with Deloitte,
one of the largest commercial service
providers in the world. AKD Prinsen Van
Wijmen is also part of a global network of
prestigious law firms. In 2009 the firm will
be moving in the country’s tallest building,
De Maastoren in Rotterdam, a property developed
by OVG.
A regular premier league player
8 (4) 1900
De Brauw Black stone Westbroek
Reported transaction volume 0
Smaller transactions and estimate of confiden
tial transactions: total 1900
De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek (BBW) is
the third-largest firm in the Netherlands in
terms of the number of lawyers (226). It is difficult
to say exactly how big BBW is because
of a lack of precise information about deals.
On the basis of our estimate, however, BBW
regularly features in the top five real estate
law firms. The real estate section is headed
by Paul Kerckhoffs and Mark Rebergen and consists
of civil-law notaries and lawyers.
There is also the De Brauw Real Estate Practice
Group, which is primarily concerned
with transaction-related litigation.
Ongoing projects in which BBW is involved
that did not count for this survey include
the Tweede Maasvlakte, the Westerschelde
container terminal, the Noord-Zuidlijn (the
metro system connecting north and south
Amsterdam) and the infrastructure project
surrounding the A2 motorway for the PPP
consortium.
Funds do count, including the fourth residential
fund for ING Real Estate and the
fifth residential/retail fund for the same
company. BBW was also involved in structuring
funds for Annexum and Bouwfonds.
Impossible to quantify but worth mentioning
is the advice the firm provided for the
structure of Redevco’s property development
organisation in Turkey.
The firm also provided important advice
during the acquistion by Cordares of the assets
of Arlington/Rederend and the transfer
of shares in Vesteda by ABP. BBW was also
involved in the transfer of ING’s shares in
Vesteda but that will only count next year.
The survey covers completed transactions
since a law firm can of course devote just as
much time to deals that don’t go through.
For example, BBW’s principal missed out
on the MPC portfolio and another missed
the boat on the sale of the Kalvertoren
in Amsterdam. BBW devoted a lot of time
to making special arrangements for land
belonging to Schiphol airport should the
stock-market listing go ahead.
Leading player, but in the shadows
9 (8) Total 1868 CMS Derks Star
Busmann
Reported transaction volume 628
Smaller transactions and estimate of confidential
transactions 1240
CMS Derks Star Busmann is the seventhlargest
law firm in the Netherlands with 152
lawyers according to the general rankings
and 250 according to itself (lawyers, civillaw
notaries and tax advisers) and is one of
the leading players in real estate. CMS has
75 fee-earners in the Real Esate & Government
practice group. That is fifteen more
than last year. There is no central register of
deals which can be reported to third parties.
It was therefore impossible to secure a compete
list during the holiday period so we do
not feel able to give a complete picture of
the firm’s work. CMS is engaged in the redevelopment of the
area around Central Station in Utrecht, and
more specifically the site of the Jaarbeurs
where there are plans to build a 12,000 m2
hotel, 20,000 m2 of residential property, a
mega-cinema with 5,000 seats and a new
Holland Casino. This redevelopment will
cost hundreds of millions of euros but there
is no firm completion date. The advisory
work for Unibail Rodamco (Jochem de Koning)
will only count in 2007.
CMS was also involved in a large number of
deals about which it is not permitted to go
public. They include the acquisition by Phanos
of the Meinerswijk area in Arnhem, one
of the largest transactions in the east of the
Netherlands in 2006, which PropertyNL did
report, and the structuring of the real estate
bonds for Phanos (Willie Ambergen).
The only super-deal apart from those for
Vendex KBB in 2005 and Unibail in 2007
is the Wölbern transaction (in which a CMS
team headed by civil-law notary Roland Bos
(Amsterdam) acted for the buyers of the
Wölbern portfolio; according to other sources
the sum involved was € 983 million).
The firm claims that it was the only one in
the Netherlands to be involved in all three
super-deals.
Apart from real estate deals, in 2006 CMS
was increasingly involved in structuring and
managing the issue of real estate bonds, setting
up real estate CVs and structuring (the
financing of) real estate funds and companies.
Most of these transactions/projects
were worth tens of millions of euros.
The reported public transactions include a
hotel deal for Golden Tulip, offices for OVG
(including the office campus De Lotus in
Rotterdam with 53,000 m2, the new head
office of Unit 4 Agresso in Sliedrecht with
7,000 m2, the Laurenshof site in Rotterdam
with 125 homes and 40,000 m2 of offices
and the redevelopment of the Las Palmas
warehouse in Rotterdam with 18,000 m2 of
office space), a hospital in Gouda and the
Riva site in Amsterdam for Borghese.
Focus on real estate
10 (-) 1820 Baker & McKenzie
Reported transaction volume 752
Smaller transactions and estimate of confidential
transactions: 1068
Baker & McKenzie is ranked 13th on the list
of law firms in the Netherlands with 113 lawyers.
We encounter the firm frequently in real
estate transactions so we are pleased to be
able to include it in the survey. Baker & Mc-
Kenzie adopts a multidisciplinary approach
in its real estate practice, which has been a
priority area for the firm since mid-2005.
Ten partners are involved in the real estate-
related practice in one way or another,
from devising fiscal structures, work for
funds, transactions in bricks and mortar,
real estate share transactions, property development,
PPPs and real estate financing.
The firm is expanding its real estate practice
with cutting-edge fiscal and financial activities.
Given its background as an international
firm with extensive experience in crossborder
legal practice, Baker & McKenzie
acts relatively frequently for foreign clients
wishing to invest in Dutch real estate and
for Dutch parties wishing to invest in real estate abroad.
Baker & McKenzie recently set up a specialist
Corporate Real Estate team. This
group will concentrate on services for the
end user, such as advice on leases and on
sale-and-lease-back transactions. Important
recent newcomers to the firm are partner
Philippe Steffens and Ella van Kranenburg,
both from Clifford Chance (structured finance),
who are on the verge of closing a
CMBS transaction worth € 2.3 billion in
Dutch mortgages, and Maurits Tausk, also
from Clifford Chance, who has already set
up many unlisted real estate funds for clients
such as ING Real Estate and Bouwfonds.
The firm’s team of International
Private Equity specialists is involved in real
estate funds which count in as far as they
were initiated in the Netherlands.
