Mergers & Acquisitions

De Brauw has advised the start-up Thorizon on securing EUR 20 million in funding to accelerate the development of its innovative molten salt reactor technology that uses nuclear waste as fuel. The EUR 20M will fund prototyping, licensing and demonstration of Thorizon One’s cartridge fuel system, a game-changer towards molten salt reactor industrialization.

Just Eat Takeaway.com N.V., one of the world’s leading on-demand delivery companies, and Prosus, the global technology company, have reached conditional agreement on an envisaged recommended public offer by Prosus for all issued and outstanding shares in the capital of Just Eat Takeaway.com of EUR 20.30 (cum dividend) in cash per share. The offer values a 100% of the shares at approximately EUR 4.1 bn and is unanimously recommended by Just Eat Takeaway.com’s management board and supervisory board.

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.

Competition authorities around the world are closing loopholes and asserting jurisdiction over mergers that have potentially harmful effects but that fall below quantitative merger-control thresholds. Some of the activities that give them cause for concern include anti-competitive effects in local markets, roll-up strategies, killing potential competition, and the stifling of future innovation. Authorities are increasingly taking the view that the size of an undertaking's revenue does not necessarily reflect that undertaking's effect on competition.

The EU is taking action to counter the EU's single market's vulnerability to geopolitical developments. Although national security still falls within the decision-making of individual member states, the bloc has encouraged its member states to screen investments by third country investors for potential national security threats. In the Netherlands, for example, a general screening regime went live in June 2023, when the Vifo Act entered into force. This act covers investments in vital providers, sensitive technology and highly sensitive technology companies, and operators of business campuses (see our June 2023 article explaining the regime here). Likewise, almost all other EU member states have implemented screening regimes on foreign direct investments (FDI).

The Dutch government has unveiled a new law designed to bolster and regulate the defence and security industry in the Netherlands. The proposed Defence and Security-Related Industry Resilience Act (Defence Resilience Act) is directed at companies active in these industries and contains a number of provisions aimed at improving Dutch armed forces operations. Structured around three major pillars, the act introduces a new sector-specific foreign direct investment (FDI) screening mechanism, lays out a framework for certifying Dutch companies to compete for foreign defence contracts, and draws up measures to enhance the Dutch defence industry's production, innovation and international competitiveness in general. Companies active in defence and security-related sectors can expect changes in M&A processes, new opportunities for international contracts, and a stronger regulatory framework that aligns with EU, US and Canadian standards. This could lead to increased economic activity coupled with more regulatory hurdles and government supervision.