Our expertise in Luxembourg

Products and services

Corporate and M&A

Our Luxembourg corporate/M&A practice is market leading. Our clients turn to us for advice on a full range of corporate matters. These include setting up unregulated investment structures and deal-specific SPVs, co-investments / joint ventures, (cross-border) mergers, acquisitions and disposals, restructurings and reorganisations, equity listings and stock exchange-related work, liquidations and corporate litigation work (eg, shareholders’ disputes, post-acquisition claims, joint venture disputes and directors’ liabilities issues). Our status as market leaders in the field of M&A in Luxembourg and the wider Benelux region is reflected through our award for Benelux Law Firm of the Year which we’ve been awarded several years, as well as our continued top ranking in Benelux for M&A deals both by volume and value.

Employment and Benefits

Our Luxembourg employment practice handles both contentious and non-contentious labour law matters for employers. We assist clients across the full range of Luxembourg labour law issues. This ranges from providing advice with respect to: (i) collective employment issues, including collective dismissals, social plans, company agreements and mitigation plans, internal restructurings; negotiating collective agreements/contracts, employee transfers (M&A deals, outsourcing), staff representation, including social elections; health and security in the workplace, code of ethics, stock options, and due diligence on labour law issues, and (ii) individual employment issues, including contract design (including multi-employer relationships), flexible working time arrangements, remuneration policies, retention and bonus agreements; secondment and expatriate agreements, immigration; retirement pension supplements and early retirement; individual dismissals (including settlement agreements and litigation); and HR data protection aspects (including background screening and data retention). Our employment practice has advised on Luxembourg's largest social plans and employee transfers. We also have a strong background in contentious labour law matters and can support our clients in employment-related litigation before all Luxembourg courts.

Finance

Our Luxembourg finance practice covers the entire spectrum of banking and finance products with a particular focus in, among other things, asset finance, leveraged finance, project finance, real estate finance, corporate lending, syndicated lending, fund finance/equity bridge facilities and Islamic finance. We are experienced in both domestic and cross-border transactions and projects. In addition, our team regularly advises on matters of debt restructuring and insolvency proceedings. Our client base includes banks, asset management firms and funds, large international corporates, governmental authorities and public entities.

Financial Services Regulatory

Regulatory changes and developments are affecting all parts of the financial services sector. Our Luxembourg financial services regulatory practice has a long track record in guiding financial services companies through an increasingly complex regulatory landscape where national and international regulations may interact or conflict. Our team’s technical expertise on critical policy issues is complemented by extensive practical experience. We regularly advise clients on how to structure themselves and carry on their business, including with respect to obtaining relevant licences, in compliance with, among others, MiFID II, AML/KYC, CRR, PSD and other recent and developing regulatory frameworks.

IP, data and tech

In Luxembourg we advise on both contentious and non-contentious issues in relation to intellectual property and information technology matters. Our experience ranges from advising clients on the full range of issues, including with respect to trademarks, patents and copyrights, know-how, trade secrets, database rights, consumer protection, data protection law,  IT contracts and negotiations, IT outsourcing, e-commerce,  advertising,  media, telecommunications and internet,  and regulatory issues. We also regularly represent our clients in the context of their IP and IT litigation proceedings before the Luxembourg and EU courts. Our lawyers are involved in several national and international advisory boards and associations which are active in the IP and IT fields, including in the drafting of legislation, which gives us first-hand knowledge of underlying issues within these areas.

International Capital Markets

We advise underwriters, arrangers and issuers on all aspects of international capital markets transactions. Among our clients are major international financial institutions and corporations, based in Europe and worldwide. Acting as counsel to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) in the U.S., Europe and Southeast Asia, we are ideally placed to advise our clients on derivative trades involving sophisticated set-off and netting mechanisms and complex collateral arrangements. Our practice has extensive experience advising in areas such as debt and equity capital markets, securitisation, derivatives and structured finance and high yield.

Investment Funds and Fund Regulation

Our Luxembourg investment funds practice is well-known for advising on all aspects of structuring, managing, servicing, distributing and investing in regulated and unregulated funds. We have a particularly strong track record within the realm of UCITS and AIFs and regularly assist our clients on, among other things, establishing investment funds as well as sub-funds thereof and fund management companies (AIFMs and UCITS ManCos); drafting offering materials and constitutional documentation; advising on related agreements such as custody, administration, investment management/advisory and prime brokerage; negotiating with investors; handling closings; conducting due diligences in respect of investors’ contemplated investments in Luxembourg-based funds, as well as negotiating the terms of those investments; advising on fund secondary transactions; fund financings/equity bridge financings; and fund re-domiciliations and migrations. Our experience also includes advising funds and fund managers in relation to regulatory issues, such as compliance with the AIFM Directive and the UCITS Directive in respect of their existing (or future) fund structures. We work with many leading global asset managers to establish complex and innovative fund structures that invest in a wide range of asset classes and geographies and we work with some of the largest institutional investors on structuring their investments.

Litigation and Dispute Resolution

Our Luxembourg office has significant experience in advising on matters of litigation and dispute resolution. Our experience in managing disputes and coordinating proceedings in the context of both domestic and cross-border litigations is what persuades many of our clients to instruct us. We specialise on the full range of issues that trigger disputes. These include, for instance, insolvency issues, contractual disputes, mis-selling, misevaluations, debt recovery, dawn raids, fraud and asset tracing claims, among other things. Together with the support of our office’s other practice areas, our litigation and dispute resolution practice has significant expertise advising on matters relating to banking and finance litigation, civil and commercial litigation, corporate litigation, fund litigation, real estate litigation, employment litigation, IP and IT litigation, tax litigation and administrative litigation. We represent clients before all Luxembourg courts and the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Tax

Our enterprising and knowledgeable Luxembourg tax practice has extensive experience advising clients on the tax aspects of domestic and international investments and transactions, as well as on the tax structuring of Luxembourg regulated and unregulated investment platforms and vehicles from which are conducted such investments and transactions. In addition, as part of its full-service offering, our tax practice provides specialised services, including on matters of VAT; transfer pricing; tax litigation; tax compliance; securitisations, structured finance and capital markets; wealth management and estate planning; and state aid.

Key sectors

Alternative asset management

Comprising members of our corporate/M&A, tax, investment funds, regulatory, finance and capital markets practices, our dedicated alternative investments practice group has extensive experience in advising alternative asset managers and investors. Our clients in this space range from some of the world’s largest multi-strategy managers, to hedge fund managers, real estate managers, private equity managers, infrastructure managers, debt managers and impact investing managers. We advise these clients across the various work-streams linked to the establishment and ongoing operation and maintenance of their Luxembourg investment platforms and the deals that they do from them. Given the depth and breadth of our client base, together with our leading role within the key industry associations in Luxembourg and in shaping applicable law and regulation, not to mention our leading role within the alternative investment management group at A&O globally, we believe that we are at the forefront of market trends and practice in this space.

Banks

In Luxembourg our work for banking clients is at the heart of what we do. We advise major banks of all shapes and sizes, from domestic retail to international commercial and investment banking conglomerates, on all aspects of their strategic projects, ranging from financing transactions to M&A transactions and corporate reorganisations, restructurings and insolvency, regulatory issues, investment funds and asset management related projects, capital market transactions, tax issues, employment law matters, IP and IT issues and litigation proceedings. We are right at the core of the market in terms of what is market standard and best practice, and what workarounds there are in this space.

Corporates

Our Luxembourg office has extensive experience advising both domestic and multinational corporate clients on their ongoing day-to-day operations as well as on their strategic projects. We advise some of the market’s biggest and leading firms active across various industries, including e-commerce; life sciences; industrial and manufacturing; telecommunications, media and technology; and consumer and retail, to name a few. Our service offering ranges from assisting on matters of corporate law, including corporate reorganisations, M&A and joint ventures, company administration, day-to-day management issues, share structuring and management of shareholder relationships, commercial contractual relationships and directors’ liabilities; employment law; intellectual property and information technology; and litigation.

Fintech

Our Luxembourg office has significant experience advising players in the Fintech sector and we are regarded in the market as one of the go-to firms in this space. Clients regularly turn to us with respect to the establishment of their Fintech related entities as well as with respect to regulatory requirements in relation to their new technologies. Our market-leading knowledge of the financial services sector together with our multidisciplinary offering serves the full spectrum of Fintech needs for start-ups and established institutions.

Insurance and reinsurance

We have a market-leading insurance and reinsurance practice in Luxembourg. Our specialist teams have significant experience advising financial institutions, insurers, reinsurers and brokers on a wide variety of insurance and reinsurance related matters. This includes, for instance, setting up Luxembourg insurance and reinsurance companies, company/business migrations to Luxembourg, acting as legal adviser to sellers or to buyers on high profile, complex M&A transactions, and advising on regulatory and compliance issues. By combining our regulatory expertise with our market-leading corporate and M&A practice, together with the support of our other key practice areas, including employment and IP/TMT, we have developed a niche at the forefront of the Luxembourg insurance and reinsurance market.

Life Sciences

Life Sciences continues to be an important sector in Luxembourg and we are privileged to advise several clients across the industry, including in the pharmaceuticals, biotech, consumer health, medtech, diagnostics and healthcare segments. We have a proven track record of advising clients on strategic licensing, joint ventures, collaboration and commercial agreements and life cycle management projects.

Real Estate

Real estate is in our DNA. As the real estate market has evolved, we have adapted with it. We offer strategic legal solutions on the full range of property related transactions to some of the most ambitious organisations in the world. Our Luxembourg real estate practice group works seamlessly across all aspects of this sector and its relevant legal disciplines. We provide clients with access to specialist lawyers in real estate law, real estate finance, structured finance and CMBS, real estate M&A and joint ventures, taxation, real estate fund formation, cross-border structuring, real estate development and construction, and real estate regulation as a one-stop-shop for all real-estate related advisory needs. Our expertise and strong teamwork enable us to advise on both domestic and cross-border projects.