Stephen Hewes

Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) is advising listed Villeroy & Boch on the acquisition of all operating companies of the globally active Ideal Standard Group. The sellers of the shares in the Belgian ceramics manufacturer are entities managed by Anchorage Capital Group and CVC Credit. The purchase price is based on a company valuation of around Euro 600 million. This transaction is the largest one in Villeroy & Boch’s 275-year-old history. Villeroy & Boch's sales in the Bathroom & Wellness Division will double to Euro 1.4 billion as a result of the merger. Including the Dining & Lifestyle business, this means an increase to over Euro 1.7 billion (around Euro 995 million in the 2022 financial year) for the Group as a whole. Villeroy & Boch will finance the transaction with debt capital of around Euro 250 million and otherwise from existing liquid funds. The transaction is expected to close in early 2024 and is subject to customary regulatory reviews and approvals. Freshfields' advice covers all legal aspects of the transaction, including legal structuring and due diligence at Ideal Standard Group, negotiation of the contractual documentation, financing, integration planning and management retention, as well as advice on all corporate, capital markets and regulatory law issues. The Freshfields team was led by Partner Prof. Dr. Christoph H. Seibt, supported by Principal Associates Tobias Dreßler, and Friedrich von der Heydt (all Corporate/M&A, Hamburg), and also included: Partners: Dr. Boris Dzida (Labor Law, Hamburg), Dr. Martin Klusmann (Competition Law, Düsseldorf), Dr. Mario Hüther, Dr. Michael Josenhans (both Financing, Frankfurt), Dr. Alexander Schwahn (Tax, Hamburg), Stephen Hewes (Corporate/M&A, London) Counsel: Juliane Ziebarth (Competition Law, Düsseldorf), Alexander Pospisil (Financing, Frankfurt/Berlin) Principal Associates: Johannes W. Schiele (Corporate/M&A), Dr. Marlen Vesper-Gräske (ESG and Corporate/M&A), Dr. Tobias Franz (Tax), Dr. Flavia Lang (Labor Law, all Hamburg) Associates: Xinyi Qiu, Dr. Bruno Gebhardi, Dr. Jean Mohamed, Valentin Müller, Jens-Ole Steiner (all Corporate/M&A, Hamburg), Severin Pretzel (Labor Law, Hamburg), Dr. Carolin Langlitz (Real Estate Law, Hamburg), Hannes Butz, Alexander Bräuer (both Financing, Frankfurt), Pavel Bend (Financing, London), Christina Hinterschweiger (Competition Law, Vienna) Transaction Lawyer: Julia Kant (Hamburg) Tax Manager: Marius Gorski (Hamburg) Inhouse at Villeroy & Boch, the transaction was accompanied by Michele Cuglietta (Head Project Management), Uta Carpier (Senior Legal Counsel) and Frank Steenbock (Director Corporate Taxes & Customs). Teams led by Hamburg partner Prof. Dr. Christoph H. Seibt have also advised Villeroy & Boch in the past, particularly on transaction projects abroad and on corporate and capital markets law issues.

Sep 18

2 min

Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) has advised the US technology group 3M on the spin-off of its healthcare division. The business is now listed on the NYSE under the name Solventum. The transaction involved the legal separation and reorganisation of the healthcare business with a turnover of US$8.2bn in over 90 jurisdictions. A large international Freshfields team as well as numerous law firms from our Stronger Together network, helped by the Freshfields Hub and the Freshfields Lab who provided tailored legal tech solutions were at play to achieve this tremendous result on time. The core team included: Partners: Barbara Keil, Elizabeth Oberholzer (both Global Lead, Corporate Law, Munich), Thomas Granetzny (Employment Law), Theresa Ehlen (IP/M&A, both Düsseldorf), Michael Ramb (Regulatory, Berlin), Christian Sistermann (Tax, Munich), Peter Niggemann (Antitrust, Düsseldorf), Gerrit Beckhaus (Real Estate, Hamburg/Berlin), Takeshi Nakao (Tokyo), Dirk-Jan Smit (Amsterdam), Miriam Pérez-Schafer (Madrid), Luigi Verga (Milan), Dr Farid Sigari-Majd (Vienna), Fares Al-Hejljalan (Riyadh), Vincent Macq (Brussels), Stephen Hewes (London; all Corporate Law) Counsels: Christine Laciak (Antitrust/Foreign Investments, Washington), Philipp Lehmann, Stefan Bajohr (Düsseldorf, both IP/M&A), Dr Martin Rehberg (Tax, Munich) Principal Associates: Katharina Reinhardt (Dispute Resolution, Berlin), Elisabeth Wulf (Corporate Law), Nina Gissinger (Real Estate Law, both Hamburg), Julian Siller (Tax, Munich), Sarah Rohmann (Employment Law, Düsseldorf) Associates: Julius Röck, Jan Postweiler, Philipp Schneider, Stefan Aust, Julius Raddatz (all Munich), William Björklund (Berlin; all Corporate Law), Benjamin Blum (Dispute Resolution, Frankfurt), Ilko Trenn (Tax), Julia Kilp (Employment Law, both Munich) Freshfields Lab: Gerrit Beckhaus (Co-Head Lab, Hamburg/Berlin), Lucas Treichl (Co-Head Lab, Vienna/Berlin), Blagoy Penchev (Lead Legal Solutions Engineer, Berlin), Marvin Hartmann (Legal Solutions Engineer, Düsseldorf) Transaction Lawyers/Paralegals: Lisa-Marie Woschniak (Munich), Chelsia Tai (Frankfurt), Vielka Hernandez Ceballos, Maria Konstantinou, Vitalii Ushakov (both Frankfurt), Ekaterina Chepurnaya (Munich)

Apr 8

1 min

Global law firm Freshfields advises Allfunds Group plc (‘Allfunds’) on its recommended cash and share acquisition by Deutsche Börse AG (‘Deutsche Börse’). Allfunds is a leading global dealing and distribution platform in the wealth management industry, listed on Euronext Amsterdam. Deutsche Börse is a global market infrastructure provider for trading markets in financial instruments, headquartered in Frankfurt. The transaction, valued at approximately €5.3bn, is expected to complete in the first half of 2027 subject to the approval of Allfunds’ shareholders and regulatory conditions being satisfied. The Freshfields team is being led by partners Nick Jones, Stephen Hewes and Michael Black on M&A, Uta Itzen, Andreas von Bonin and Jenny Leahy on antitrust, David Franco and Cyrus Pocha on financial regulation, Alice Greenwell on employment, Martin Hutchings on finance, Christoph Seibt on German law matters and Hanneke Rothbarth on Dutch law matters.

Jan 22

1 min

Ten law firm partners have been identified as the top U.K. M&A lawyers based in London for 2025, according to a dataset produced by MergerLinks. Samuel Newhouse of Latham & Watkins topped the rankings, and was found to have led on M&A transactions last year with a combined deal value of £54.05 billion. Newhouse was part of the Latham team which advised on the merger of mining giants Anglo American and Teck—creating a $53 billion combined group. Notably, every lawyer on the MergerLinks list of the top ten practitioners is male. The online platform’s final list is based on the total value of M&A transactions announced last year, and considers only those in which the respective lawyers led teams in which their firm was the primary legal adviser. The list also features top names from Freshfields, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Cravath Swaine & Moore, A&O Shearman and Slaughter and May. Freshfields partner Stephen Hewes was in second place on the list, having led on deals with a combined value of £21.9 billion, while Skadden partner Denis Klimentchenko was in third place with an equivalent figure of £15.8 billion. Freshfields' Hewes advised on CVC's acquisition of Smiths Detection from Smiths Group for £2 billion in December 2025, with Latham & Watkins also leading on the deal.

Mar 3

1 min

Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) is advising Hargreaves Lansdown plc (‘Hargreaves Lansdown’) on the recommended final cash acquisition by a consortium comprised of CVC Private Equity Funds, Nordic Capital XI Delta, SCSp (acting through its general partner, Nordic Capital XI Delta GP SARL) and Platinum Ivy B 2018 RSC Limited of the entire issued, and to be issued, share capital of Hargreaves Lansdown. Hargreaves Lansdown is the UK’s largest savings and investment platform for retail investors, with almost 1.9 million clients and £155.3 billion savings and investments, having been founded over 40 years ago. The acquisition values Hargreaves Lansdown at approximately £5.4 billion on a fully diluted basis and is expected to become effective in the first quarter of 2025, subject to conditions including the receipt of shareholder approval and certain regulatory approvals. The Freshfields team advising on the deal is being led by partners Claire Wills and Stephen Hewes, alongside counsel Meredith Bayley and associate Nikki Willson, and also includes partners Alice Greenwell, Martin McElwee, James Smethurst, May Smith, counsel Sam Withnall and associates Christopher Chan, Martin Dickson, Lily Hilton, Elizabeth Lien, Charles Smye, Brandon Thompson and Rhianna Thornton-Reid.

Aug 9

1 min