Learnlight, a global EdTech player and a SYNOVA portfolio company, strengthens its position as a leading provider of blended and virtual training solutions through the acquisition of BLCC.

The Racine deal team was led by Partner Anthony Van der Hauwaert, with support from Alexis Debier and Katrien De Vos.

For more information, see https://www.learnlight.com/en/articles/learnlight-acquires-belgian-language-training-provider-blcc/

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Racine is proud to have assisted European production and distribution firm Fremantle in the acquisition of a majority stake in A Team Productions, the Belgian firm behind films Patser, Yummy and Baghdad Messi.

With the acquisition, Fremantle strengthens its position in the Belgian scripted market and invests in the growth of its international scripted portfolio of films and drama series. A Team Productions is led by talented duo Kobe van Steenberghe and Hendrik Verthé. They will work closely with Dave Heuten, CEO of Fremantle Belgium.

The Racine deal team consisted of partner Anthony Van der Hauwaert and Sien Vermeesch.

Read press coverage here and here.

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Racine is proud to have assisted the shareholders of decorative wood panel wholesaler Gesibois with the combination of their activity with that of Vanrobaeys and their subsequent reinvestment in the combined group company Wopaco, one of the portfolio companies of the private equity fund Sofindev.

The combined group will realize about € 75 million in revenue with more than 100 employees, operating from two locations, in Izegem and in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, leading to one of the largest specialized wholesalers of decorative wood panels in Belgium.

The Racine deal team consisted of Anthony Van der Hauwaert and Sien Vermeesch.

Read press coverage published by De Tijd.

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BMC Benelux is one of the largest builders’ merchants in Belgium operating under the Youbuild and Mpro brands and owned by German PE fund Aurelius.

Vandevoorde Bouwmaterialen is a family owned building materials merchant based in Wortegem—Petegem.

This acquisition follows the acquisition earlier this year of builders’ merchant De Rycke which Racine also successfully supported.

Press coverage can be found here.

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Racine Brussels advised and assisted Lecluyse, a Belgian family owned company established in 1958 active in the production of window blinds, with the acquisition of the French blinds business of Solar Screen, Europe’s largest distributor of self-adhesive films.

The Racine team was led by partner Anthony Van der Hauwaert with the support of Sien Vermeesch and Alexis Debier.

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The retail park encompasses ca. 10,000 sq.m. of shopping area divided over 9 stores and is let to chains such as Carrefour, Hubo, JYSK, Vanden Borre Kitchen, Impermo, BNP Paribas and Sushiworld.

Read press release.

This transaction follows the earlier acquisition this year of the shares of Immo Bree Invest nv, the company controlling the Gerkens retail park in Bree.

Gerkenspark encompass together ca. 11,500 sq.m. of shopping area divided over 9 stores, including Jumbo, McDonald’s, Jysk, X2O, Torfs, ZEB, vanHaren, Yess! and Impermo.

More at: https://www.pertinea.com/news/bree-draft/

Racine assisted Pertinea on both transactions with a multidisciplinary team led by partner Anthony Van der Hauwaert with the support of Stijn Claeys, Sien Vermeesch, Arne Baert, Joeri Leten and Alexis Debier.

We would also like to thank the colleagues at Cazimir for their tax support.

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Racine Brussels is proud to again be recommended as a leading firm in the following practice areas in this year’s Legal 500 EMEA guide:

• Corporate, Commercial and M&A
• Insolvency and Restructuring

This is what Legal 500 says about us in their 2021 guide:

Corporate, Commercial and M&A

Anthony Van der Hauwaert heads up the corporate and transactional team, while retail sector expert Stijn Claeys leads the commercial group.

The firm advises publicly listed and private companies on a wide range of transactional and advisory matters, including domestic and cross-border M&A, group restructurings, share capital transactions, shareholder agreements, corporate governance and director liability.

Commercial work includes advice on franchising, advertising, supply agreements and consumer protection. Claeys has particular expertise in distribution law issues.

Testimonials

‘Hands-on team with smooth negotiators.‘

‘Stijn Claeys is partner at the commercial department. His strength is that he thinks along with the client, he understands the business very quickly, goes straight to the core of the problem, does not turn around the issue, tries to find practical solutions with ear for commercial arguments (if any), but he does not avoid tricky discussions and he is witty.‘

‘Always accessible, they think also out of the box, ready to go with you until the end of the process (dedicated).‘

‘I work with Anthony Van der Hauwaert. He is very knowledgeable and friendly. He understands the need very quickly and responds to it very well and quickly.‘

‘Stijn Vanschoubroek was our single point of contact, coordinating from his side with his colleagues internally. It sounds easy, but to keep communication clear & transparent seems to be a big issue in more complex situations for many companies.‘

‘The team is very professional and discrete. Always available for helping you out.‘

‘Pragmatic, cost-efficient and client-focused approach.‘

‘Racine has a great corporate team with lots of international experience and credentials. They understand complex global deals and work smoothly together with other lawyers from other jurisdictions.‘

Insolvency and Restructuring

At Racine, the focus is primarily on insolvency and restructuring-related litigation, with practice co-heads Joan Dubaere and Stijn Vanschoubroek often appointed as trustees and liquidators in various domestic proceedings. The team’s client roster includes both debtors and lenders, and it has a further ability to handle distressed M&A-related matters.

Counsel Rubben Lindemans is another key name; he specialises in reorganisation proceedings and enforcement. Rubben  has been recommended as a “rising star” in Insolvency and Restructuring.

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Racine conseille Orange Bank dans le cadre de l’acquisition d’Anytime, une néobanque dédiée aux besoins des professionnels, des entreprises et des associations.

Précurseur de la banque mobile sur le marché grand public, Orange Bank poursuit, grâce à cette acquisition, sa stratégie de développement auprès d’une clientèle proche de celle de l’opérateur télécom en élargissant son offre bancaire au marché des professionnels et des entreprises.

Le groupe a pour ambition de démocratiser la gestion financière des TPE/PME et Anytime est l’une des trois premières néobanques sur ce marché en France.

Anytime devenant à 100% filiale d’Orange Bank, elle pourra bénéficier de la forte présence de la branche télécom d’Orange auprès de millions de professionnels en France et pourra enrichir ses services pour créer une plateforme complète de solutions pour accompagner les clients professionnels dans leurs démarches.

Orange compte progressivement déployer les services d’Anytime au-delà de la France, dans les autres pays européens où Orange Bank est présent. Le groupe prévoit également de mener des expérimentations pour élargir les canaux de distribution de ses offres, qui sont actuellement souscrites depuis l’application Anytime ou sur son site web.

Orange Bank était conseillé par Racine Paris et Bruxelles avec une équipe composée de :

• Jean-Christophe Beaury (Paris), Anthony Van der Hauwaert (Bruxelles), associés, Caroline Hazout-Nakache (Paris) et Sien Vermeesch (Bruxelles), collaboratrices, sur les aspects M&A
• David Masson, associé, et Sonia Oudjhani-Rogez, collaboratrice, sur les aspects réglementaires (Paris)
• Xavier Rollet, associé, et Valérie Gin-Boyer, counsel, sur les aspects fiscaux (Paris)
• Eric Barbry (Paris), Stijn Claeys (Bruxelles), associés, et Arne Baert (Bruxelles), collaborateur, sur les aspects IP-IT.

Plus d’infos: https://www.orange.com/fr/newsroom/communiques/2021/orange-bank-poursuit-son-developpement-et-fait-lacquisition-danytime-une

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Racine Brussels advised Belgian family office Immo Corporate on the acquisition of the Olen Shopping Park from Aberdeen Standard European Balanced Property Fund.

The Olen Shopping Park is the owner of a retail park located in the Antwerp province in Belgium totalizing 35,400 m² GLA spread over 33 units. Anchor tenants include food retailer Albert Heijn, Decathlon, Maison du Monde and H&M.

We are proud and thankful of the Racine team that has worked on this transaction, which is the largest retail transaction in Belgium in 2020 in a very challenging market.

The Racine transaction team consisted of Anthony Van der Hauwaert and Sien Vermeesch with support of Stijn Claeys, Arne Baert and Louise Geerebaert. The deal value remains confidential.

Stay informed? Follow Racine on LinkedIN.

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Racine Brussels is also this year the exclusive contributor to The Legal 500: Mergers & Acquisitions (4th edition) Country Comparative Guide.

Our partner Anthony Van der Hauwaert and senior associate Sien Vermeesch provide an overview of the laws and regulations governing M&A transactions in Belgium. These series of online country comparative legal guides are designed to give the in-house community greater insight to the laws and regulations in unfamiliar jurisdictions. Each country chapter is written by a firm ranked by The Legal 500 in an easy to use Q&A format.

Read more

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