Capital Markets

De Brauw has acted as lead counsel to Exor on a EUR 1 billion share buyback tender offer. The tender offer will be executed via a reverse "Dutch auction", allowing qualifying shareholders to select the price at which they wish to sell their shares back to Exor within a pre-determined price range, extending in 1% increments, from a 3% discount to a 10% premium over a VWAP reference price. The tender offer is supported by Exor majority shareholder Giovanni Agnelli B.V., which has committed to participate for an amount of up to EUR 250 million at whatever price is ultimately determined to be the strike price (as a 'strike price tender'). As trusted lead legal adviser to Exor, De Brauw was involved in all strategic and legal aspects of the tender offer, the majority shareholder commitment, and the drafting of documentation including the offer memorandum.

Axcel-backed Oral Care, a Sweden-based dental care service provider in Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands, has signed an agreement to acquire Dutch dental care provider De Tandartsengroep (DTG). The acquisition will significantly expand the group’s presence in the Netherlands and marks another step in Oral Care’s aspirations in becoming a leading dental care group in Northern Europe.

De Brauw has advised HEINEKEN in connection with its two-year programme to repurchase own shares for an aggregate amount of EUR 1.5 billion. Heineken Holding, HEINEKEN's majority shareholder, intends to participate pro rata to its shareholding.

A 15% dividend withholding tax on the deemed distribution of taxable reserves in share buyback transactions is likely to be adopted in the Netherlands as of 1 January 2025.

With the final rules having been issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, US stock exchanges will have to set listing standards requiring listed companies to adopt a clawback policy that provides for the recovery of erroneously awarded incentive-based compensation from former and current executive officers – known as US Clawback Rules. The SEC has also informally provided more guidance on the timing of the US Clawback Rules. Although the effective date of the US Clawback Rules is not yet certain, companies should prepare to have a final clawback policy ready for adoption by early August 2023. In this article, we describe the Dutch law considerations that US-listed Dutch companies should take into account when implementing the US Clawback Rules.

On 20 December 2022, the Monitoring Committee presented an update of the Dutch Corporate Governance Code. The 2022 Code: