Insights

Equal Pay Day marks the symbolic day in the year when women effectively "stop earning", compared to men, due to the gender pay gap in Europe. In recent years, the EU has intensified its focus on addressing pay inequality with a series of legislative initiatives that enhance pay transparency and gender-related reporting obligations. The EU Pay Transparency Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) both set out the detailed information that companies must provide on the gender pay gap in their management reports. Equal Pay Day serves as a timely reminder of recent advancements in pay transparency legislation that impact compliance requirements, corporate governance and employee relations.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives are now critical drivers for companies – there is no getting around it. Companies often make significant ESG efforts. But when they wish to – or have to – communicate about these efforts, a growing web of regulations becomes relevant. This, coupled with increasingly active authorities who are on the look-out for greenwashing practices, means that it can be hard to establish what is, and what is not, allowed or required. Below, we will summarise the state of play and also look ahead.

Green bonds are financial instruments where the net proceeds are specifically used to finance green, social and other sustainable activities. Green bonds are already prominent in the EU bond market (with some of the largest issuers located in the Netherlands), but the "green" stamp is so far mainly based on voluntary market standards. This will change when the Green Bonds Regulation comes into effect. The Green Bonds Regulation sets uniform requirements for issuers of EU Green Bonds (EuGBs).

On 6 September 2024, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled in favour of Malaysia by dismissing an appeal filed by seven Filipino Citizens, the alleged heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu. The Filipino Citizens were seeking to overturn a Hague Court of Appeal decision dated 27 June 2023 which dismissed their application for recognition and enforcement in the Netherlands of a purported arbitral award amounting to USD 14,92 billion and rendered by Dr. Gonzalo Stampa against Malaysia. De Brauw successfully argued that the Hague Court of Appeal decision should be upheld. The Supreme Court judgment can be found here (in Dutch).

De Brauw advised G Square on the contemplated sale of its portfolio company, the Duomed Group to Palex Medical through execution of a put option agreement. The Duomed Group is a dynamic organization with a well-established reputation and is active in consultancy, sales, integration, training and technical support of medical technology and devices for hospitals and medical practices. The Duomed Group is active in Denmark, Sweden, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, the UK, Serbia and Slovenia. The envisaged transaction would form a truly pan-European platform, providing medical technology equipment and solutions across Northern, Western, and Southern Europe

De Brauw is advising Aquiline Capital Partners on the sale of its stake in Quintes, one of the largest independent insurance brokers in the Netherlands, together with the other shareholders being Gijsbert van de Nieuwegiessen (founder) and key management, to Brown & Brown, Inc.