Navigating the legal landscape

As a lawyer, I help our Investment Banking business navigate the legal and regulatory framework we’re operating in, so that we can provide Corporate Finance and Equity Capital Markets services to our clients. Since the 2008 financial crisis, our industry has become increasingly regulated (whether financial, investor protection or sustainability regulations) and the sheer scope of the services we offer and the breadth of the jurisdictions we cover make for a complex regulatory environment. This complexity requires legal advisers like me to turn our specialised regulatory focus into something practical that enables the business to make things simple for clients.

In 2022, we were involved in a significant life sciences transaction. Van Lanschot Kempen is advising European Biotech Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) listed on Nasdaq, on its merger with biopharmaceutical company Oculis. The transaction was announced in 2022 and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023, subject to various approvals. It’s a transaction I was proud to be involved in because there were various regulatory changes in relation to SPACs in the US, and we were able to offer advice on how to navigate them and enable the client to complete the deal successfully.

Johnathan Leibbrandt – Lead Expert, Legal