Guest lecture based on price concepts and representations and warranties

Bart Bellen and Marthe Wouters were invited to the University of Antwerp, for a guest lecture in the International M&A programme hosted by Professors Carl Clottens and Robby Houben. The lecture focused on price concepts and representations and warranties in share purchase agreements. Students received our booklet on the 5th M&A Survey and the M&A Chronicle. 

You can find out more about these and related publications here.

The fifth M&A Survey in TRV-RPS

Belgium's most important corporate law review (TRV-RPS : Revue pratique des sociétés - Tijdschrift voor Rechtspersoon en Vennootschap) published our article on key findings of the fifth M&A Survey, written by Bart Bellen, Kristof De Wael, Céline Mergeay and Breth Hermans. The publication in TRV/RPS illustrates that the M&A Survey has both direct practical relevance, as well as academic value and merit.

The M&A Survey measures the use in practice of typical variables in company acquisition processes and share purchase agreements. The fifth M&A Survey is based on 446 transactions completed in the period 2016-2020, with a total deal value of approximately 25 billion euros, and was realized with the support of many of Belgium's pre-eminent investment companies, financial service providers and law firms.

You can order your own copy of the M&A Survey here!

Kickstart your career at contrast

Are you a motivated and pro-active paralegal with 0-3 years of experience? Quickly send us your CV to meet our paralegal team!

ITP – Ready for a (home) search by the competition authority?

In the Picture – One fine Tuesday morning, police officers and officials from the European Commission pay you a sudden visit with a search warrant to go through your (home) office. Good preparation is key for a ‘dawn raid’ like this to take place efficiently and correctly.

Read this month’s In the Picture newsletter by Emmelie Wijckmans and discover the workshop contrast has put together with a step-by-step guide through the stages of a dawn raid (in the office or at home) and a concrete action plan.

contrast training - legal drafting skills

As part of our internal training program, our juniors completed an interactive course on legal drafting skills by Gonnie Put of Bureau Klare Taal. This program has provided them with hands-on tips and tricks to apply in their daily practice.

Would you like to be a part of our team? Take a look at our career page for interesting opportunities!

Gondola picks up DLC launch

E-magazine Gondola, the leading publication in Belgium on retail distribution, has picked up the launch of ‘Distribution Law Center’ (DLC) as one of its headline stories. You can read the article (in Dutch) on the website of Gondola!

Breaking news! ‘Distribution Law Center’ launched

contrast is the driving force behind a spectacular pan-European initiative that groups specialized law firm teams from no less than 27 European countries. The ‘Distribution Law Center’ aims to become the one-stop shop for information on distribution matters.

Check out the DLC platform on www.distributionlawcenter.com and follow the Distribution Law Center on LinkedIn.

See below how the contrast team celebrated this great achievement with a pleasant lunch immediately following the official launch:

Kickstart your career @contrast

We have open positions in our Competition & EU law team at senior (+4 years of experience) and junior level. If you are interested in joining our top team, we look forward to receiving your CV and to meeting you.

Privacy Talk – Investing in your customer service to strengthen GDPR compliance?

It has become increasingly important to make sure that your company’s customer service team is aware of the importance of GDPR compliance and its key role as the first point of contact for complaints. The reasons why are explained by Anouk Focquet and Julie Mannekens in our most recent ‘Privacy Talk’ newsletter.

Would you like to know more about training courses for your customer service? This topic is covered in the contrast GDPR compliance programme: https://www.contrast-law.be/en/gdpr/.

Merger control

Today, the General Court of the European Union largely upheld the double gun jumping fine imposed by the European Commission on Altice for acquiring control over PT Portugal prior to notification to, and clearance by, the European Commission. This judgement is a clear warning to companies that they should limit the rights of the buyer over the target’s conduct between signing and closing in a notifiable transaction to what is necessary to ensure that the value of the target is preserved or to avoid its commercial integrity being compromised.

Want to know more? Contact one of our merger control specialists Herlinde Burez, Maaike Visser, Laura Sente and Manda Wilson or read the press release of the General Court. #mergercontrol #generalcourt #gunjumping #altice