Jaap Geleijns

Jaap is a Counsel in our Corporate/M&A team based in Amsterdam.

He specialises in corporate law with a focus on public and private M&A and joint ventures, including public offers, buy-side acquisitions, sell-side divestments and strategic combinations. He has a strong track record of domestic and cross-border transactions, acting for a range of financial investors and corporate enterprises.

Work highlights

Jaap has led on, or played a significant role, in many of the market’s most significant deals. Highlights include advising:

• The Dutch State: advising on the €3.4bn support package for KLM, and the acquisition of a strategic 14% shareholding interest in Air France-KLM.
• Unilever: advising on the historic simplification of its dual-listed structure, and a number of confidential transactions and matters relating to corporate governance.
• ING, KBC Bank, Rabobank and Belfius: advising on the sale of payments technology provider Payconiq International to the European Payments Initiative (EPI), a transaction that was awarded Best M&A Deal 2023 (mid market).
• ENGIE: advising on the envisaged sale, restructuring and solvent wind-down of EVBox, an electric vehicle charging infrastructure provider.
• Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. (now liquidated): advising on its corporate restructuring, delisting and €10bn debt and equity restructuring, resulting in its liquidation in fall 2023 and the transfer of assets and liabilities to a new holding company held by five independent Dutch trust foundations.
• DELA: advising on the acquisition of competitor Yarden, creating the biggest funeral insurance and services provider in the Netherlands.

• Curetis: advising on its merger with OpGen Inc., a NASDAQ listed biotech company.

• Twitter: advising on the acquisition of Revue, a Dutch editorial newsletter platform.

• Various public offers, such as advising Macquarie Asset Management on its envisaged public offer for Renewi, Xenon Private Equity on its public offer for RoodMicrotec, Gilde Equity Management on its public offer for DPA Group, Unilever PLC on its public offer for all preference shares in Unilever NV, Royal VolkerWessels on the public offer by Reggeborgh for Royal VolkerWessels, JUST EAT plc on its £9bn recommended all-share combination with Takeaway.com, Mediahuis on its public offer for Telegraaf Media Group, Recruit on its public offer for USG People, SAB Miller on its envisaged public offer for Heineken.

Jaap started his career at Linklaters in 2012 and was promoted to counsel in 2022.

In 2017, Jaap was seconded to the corporate/M&A team of Linklaters’ alliance firm Allens in Sydney (Australia).

Jaap graduated cum laude from Tilburg University in Dutch and International Business Law. He also studied at the University of Minnesota Law School.

Jaap lectures regularly in the field of mergers and acquisitions at, among others, the Vrije Universiteit. Jaap is also co-author of a book about M&A transactions (‘Bedrijfsovername’).