Strelia

Managing Partner: Olivier Clevenbergh

Number of partners: 17

Number of lawyers: 42

Languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Luxembourgish, Polish, Russian, Spanish

Phone: +3226270090

Firm Overview:

Strelia was set up in 2013. It was formed by experienced partners coming from various international firms to bring together their expertise and strengths and provide their clients with a new offering. The firm combines the advantages of an outstanding professional firm working in accordance with the international standards with the focus, flexibility, cost-effectiveness and responsiveness of a boutique firm. The firm believes in the complementarity of transactional and contentious work. While delivering practical results, Strelia places a high importance on the technical knowledge of law. Many of Strelia’s lawyers are academics or authors in their areas of law, which ensures that Strelia has access to in-depth and updated know-how.

Main Areas of Practice:

• Corporate/M&A
• Litigation & Arbitration
• Banking & Finance (including Financial Regulations)
• Capital Markets
• Restructuring & Insolvency
• Tax
• Commercial/Distribution
• Employment & Benefits
• Competition & Regulatory
• Real Estate & Administrative Law

Corporate/M&A: Some of Strelia’s lawyers have more than 20 years of experience in negotiating M&A transactions, whether in Belgium or at an international level.

Areas of expertise:

• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Private Equity & Venture Capital
• Joint Ventures
• Corporate Governance
• Equity Capital Markets
• Due Diligence

Contacts: [email protected] / [email protected]

Litigation & Arbitration: Whether the firm’s clients want to avoid a dispute or position themselves in view of a dispute, or actually resolve it in the best possible way, they can rely on Strelia’s litigators’ expertise. The firm represents clients in both national courts and arbitration proceedings. Several partners are regularly appointed as arbitrators.

Areas of expertise:

• Arbitration
• Mediation
• Pre-Litigation Advisory
• M&A Litigation
• Banking Litigation
• Company Disputes
• Insurance&Tort Claims
• Commercial Litigation
• Investments

Contact: [email protected]

Banking & Finance: Strelia assists its clients (banks, borrowers and issuers) on all aspects of the structuring and documentation of financing transactions. The firm covers all types of bank financings, as well as bond issues, securitisations, transfers of credit portfolios, derivatives, etc. In addition, the firm advises its clients in many aspects of the increasingly complex banking and financial regulations affecting their activities.

Areas of expertise:

• Acquisition Finance
• Property Finance
• Credit Restructuring
• Project Finance
• Trade Finance
• Leasing
• Bond Issues
• Securitisation
• Transfer of Credit Portfolios
• Derivatives
• Banking & Financial Regulations

Contact: [email protected]

Restructuring & Insolvency: The team has been involved in many restructurings and sales in the context of insolvency procedures supervised by courts. Its lawyers also advice clients in the various disputes that can derive from a situation of insolvency, such as liability of directors or the rights and ranks of creditors. The team has a strong knowledge of security interests, attachments and all related aspects of civil law.

Areas of expertise:

• Corporate & Debt Restructuring
• Distressed Debt
• Creditors’ Rights
• Judicial Reorganisations & Transfers of Undertakings
• Insolvency Mediation
• Voluntary Liquidation

Contact: [email protected]

Tax: With over 20 years of experience in the tax field for both national and international clients, the tax team covers most areas of tax, with a specific focus on tax rulings, M&A and corporate restructuring, international tax planning, real estate transactions and tax litigation.

Areas of expertise:

• Ruling Practice
• M&A & Corporate Restructuring
• Domestic & International Tax Planning
• Real Estate Tax
• Tax Litigation

Contact: [email protected]

Employment & Benefits: Strelia’s employment and benefits team provides clients a unique offering covering key strategic Board level issues. The team’s practice encompasses all contentious and non-contentious HR-related legal work, in the three strands of private legal practice (litigation, advisory and transactional matters).

Areas of expertise:

• Advisory, Contentious and Transactional work
• Contracts and policies (including labour regulations, social dialogue, enforcement and sanctioning)
• Compensation: executive compensation, incentives and benefits
• Compliance and change: transfer of business, HR in corporate transactions, outsourcing, restructuring

Contact: [email protected]

Commercial: Strelia advises on a wide range of commercial law issues, with a focus on retail and distribution. It has a specialist expertise in franchising.

Areas of Expertise:

• Distribution
• Franchising
• Commercial Leases
• Market Practices

Contacts: [email protected] / [email protected]

Competition & Regulatory: Strelia's multidisciplinary team assists companies and represents them before the European Commission, the Belgian Competition Authority, the EU and Belgian courts, the EU and Belgian sector regulators, as well as national competition and regulatory authorities of neighbouring countries, in matters related, among others, to EU/national antitrust, merger control, State aid and sector regulations (such as energy, transport and telecom).

Areas of Expertise:

• Merger Control
• Antitrust
• State Aid

Contact: [email protected]

Real Estate & Administrative Law: Strelia's team is composed of both transactional advisors and litigators who are each experts in their field, such as real estate, administrative, environmental, corporate, financial and tax law.

Areas of Expertise:

• Real Estate
• Public Procurement, Concessions & PPP
• General Administrative Law

Contact: [email protected]

International Work: Strelia advises both Belgian and foreign clients. Over the years, the partners of Strelia have established strong relationships with foreign firms with which they work closely.

Clients: The clients of Strelia comprise Belgian and foreign companies (including listed companies) and public authorities, notably in the retail and the financial sector.