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Dirk Meeus

Partner

Email

Dirk.Meeus@aoshearman.com

Phone

+32 2 780 24 32

Offices

Brussels

V-CARD
Dirk is Global Co-Head of M&A and Established Industries Sector Lead.

He specialises in public and private mergers & acquisitions, private equity and equity capital markets. His work on significant, cross-border transactions for Belgian companies, as well as his defence of them in hostile takeover situations, has earned Dirk a stellar reputation. He also has a wealth of experience in advising international clients and large private equity players.

All the leading legal guides commend Dirk for his outstanding work in his field: “He is brilliant.” (Chambers & Partners, 2023); “Dirk Meeus remains a force to be reckoned with. He loves a good game of strategy – he is excellent in auctions on the sell side and will assist in developing the best strategy/approach.” (Legal 500, 2023).

Dirk is admitted to both the Brussels Bar and New York Bar.

Expertise

Industries

Experience

Representative matters

  • Recticel on its successful defence strategy against the hostile takeover attempt by Greiner AG, which included the sale of its bedding business to the Portuguese group Aquinos and the sale of its engineered foam business to the American Carpenter group.
  • Waterland, the shareholders of the Sentia, a cloud consulting company, on the disposal of Sentia Group to Accenture, including the carve-out of certain activities of Sentia, notably its Danish businesses and certain data centers, prior to closing the deal with Accenture.
  • SFPI-FPIM, Belgium’s Federal Holding and Investment Company, on the sale of EUR2.17bn worth of shares in BNP Paribas.
  • TVH, The Thermote and Vanhalst families, on the internal restructuring and carve-out of the various business units of the TVH Group and the subsequent auction sale of a 40% stake in TVH Parts to D’Ieteren Group.
  • Recticel on its successful defence strategy against the hostile takeover attempt by Greiner AG, which included the sale of its engineered foam business to the American Carpenter group.
  • AAC Capital Partners, the international private equity company, the initial founders and the management investors on the auction sale of the Desotec group, an international leading manufacturer and provider of activated carbon solutions, to the EQT VII fund.
  • Balta as issuer, and a global private equity firm, as selling shareholder, on Balta’s EUR500 million initial public offering and listing of its shares on the Euronext Brussels. This was the largest IPO on Euronext since bpost in 2013.
  • The largest shareholders in an insurance company on the company's EUR1.25bn capital increase.
  • Delta Lloyd Groep on the EUR219 million sale of its Belgian banking business to Anbang Group Holdings a Chinese insurance group.
  • Gilde Buy Out Partners, the Netherlands-based private equity firm, on the acquisition of Oystershell, a Belgian based OTC company with headquarters in Ghent.
  • An insurance company on several transactions including the EUR1.05bn sale of its private banking operation to Precision Capital, a Luxembourg vehicle owned by Qatari investors and the EUR884m sale of its minority stake in a Polish commercial bank, through a private placement; the EUR770m sale of TUiR WARTA, its Polish insurance subsidiary, to Talanx International, the German insurance company.
  • KPN, the Dutch Telecom incumbent, on the EUR1.325bn sale of Base, the Belgian mobile operator to Telenet.
  • Recticel, a Belgian manufacturer of polyurethane foam products, on its capital increase with preferential rights of EUR75.9m.
  • Roularta Media Group, the media company listed on the Brussels stock exchange, on sale of its 50% stake in the audio-visual enterprise Medialaan (TV channels vtm, Q2, Vitaya, CAZ, Radio stations Q music and Joe, Mobile Vikings … ) to the co-shareholder De Persgroep. Additionally, Roularta buys half of the Mediafin shares, currently owned by De Persgroep.
  • Sipef, a Belgian agro-industrial company listed on Euronext Brussels, on the USD 100m acquisition of a 36,84% stake in Agro Muko from Evans group and the equity financing thereof through a rights issue.
  • Trafigura, one of the world’s largest commodities trading firms, on the subscription for shares in Nyrstar for up to EUR125m of the EUR250 – 275m rights offering announced by Nyrstar, a leading metals business specialising in zinc.
  • A multinational materials technology company on the carve-out and auction sale of its building materials operation to Fedrus International, a Belgian-based producer and distributor of building materials. The transaction was co-ordinated by our leading tier 1 Belgian M&A practice that was able to draw on the expertise of A&O's M&A experts and full-service teams in 14 out of the 17 jurisdictions in which the building materials operation is active.
  • X-Fab on its initial public offering and listing of its shares on Euronext Brussels and Euronext Paris.

Published Work

  • Van Gervan. D, Meeus. D, (1992) "Environmental law - Introduction of criminal liability for companies requires amendment of Criminal Code", I.C.C.L.R.,C - 161. 
  • Van Gerven, Meeus. D, (1992) "Convertible Bonds and Warrants under Belgian Company Law", I.C.C.L.R., 282. 
  • Hinnekens. P, Meeus. D, (1993) "Herkwalificatie van het inkomen van een bestuurder natuurlijke persoon : attractiebeginsel", A.F.T., 137. 
  • Meeus. D, "Protecting Minority Shareholders, the Belgian Perspective", Center For International Legal Studies, Salzburg, Austria. 
  • Meeus. D, Corporate Governance in Nederland : het Rapport Peters, een aanzet tot verandering en een uitnodiging tot discussie, Vennootschapsrecht & Fiscaliteit, april 1997. 
  • Meeus. D, De Recente Belgische aanbevelingen inzake Corporate Governance, Vennootschap en Fiscaliteit, 1998, nummer 2. 
  • Meeus. D, Het instituut voor Bestuurders, Vennootschap en Fiscaliteit, 1997, nummer 1. 
  • Meeus. D, Corporate Governance, Het Belgisch Perspectief, Het Instituut voor Bestuurders, Intersentia Rechtswetenschappen, 1998.

Recognition

“One of the most senior M&A lawyers in Belgium and an important partner at domestic and international level.”
Chambers Europe, Corporate/M&A, 2018
“Dirk Meeus ‘brings gravitas to a meeting'.”
Legal 500, Belgium Corporate/M&A, 2018

Qualifications

Admissions

Stagiair, Belgium, 1991

Admitted to the bar, State of New York, USA, 1994

Admitted as advocaat, Belgium, 1995

Registered Foreign Lawyer, England and Wales, 2021

Academic

LLM, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1991

Law Degree, FNDP Namur and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL), 1990

Heidelberg University – Erasmus - 1989

Languages

Dutch, English, French
Disclaimer
A&O Shearman was formed on May 1, 2024 by the combination of Shearman & Sterling LLP and Allen & Overy LLP and their respective affiliates (the legacy firms). Any matters referred to above may include matters undertaken by one or more of the legacy firms rather than A&O Shearman.