Frederic Elens

About Frederic Elens

Frederic Elens is an experienced corporate and M&A lawyer and partner in the Brussels office.

Frederic specialises in cross-border acquisitions and divestments, joint ventures, reorganisations, carve-outs and other corporate transactions, advising Belgian and international corporate clients, private equity and financial sponsors, and financial institutions. His expertise spans both private and public M&A transactions, and covers a wide range of industries.

Alongside his transactional practice, Frederic advises clients on corporate advisory, company law and governance matters.

Frederic is fluent in French, Dutch and English.

Recent work

• ETC Group, a Cinven portfolio company, on its acquisition of Amadys;
• D’Ieteren Group on its acquisition of a 40% participation in TVH Parts, a EUR 3.65bn long-term partnership with the Thermote family;
• House of HR group in respect of the acquisition by Bain Capital of a majority participation in the House of HR group from the existing shareholders; this is the largest private equity deal in Belgium to date;
• Thermo Fisher Scientific on its acquisition of Henogen, the Belgium-based viral vector manufacturing business of Groupe Novasep for c. EUR 725 million; Thermo Fisher on the European and Asian aspects of the acquisition of PeproTech for c. USD 1.85 billion; and Thermo Fisher on other acquisitions and investments;
• General Atlantic on a strategic investment in Odoo SA;
• Vitruvian Partners on the acquisition of Voxbone SA, a Belgium-based international company active in the cloud business; and Vitruvian Partners on the sale of Voxbone to Bandwidth Inc;
• IK Partners on its acquisition of CID Lines, a leading Belgian company active in the supply of innovative hygiene solutions; IK Partners on the sale of CID Lines to ECOLAB; IK Partners on its proposed acquisition of GoodLife Foods, a European based frozen food producer;
• CVC Capital Partners on the sale, and previously on the acquisition, of Praesidiad (formerly Betafence), a fencing solutions, access control and detection for perimeter protection, to The Carlyle Group; CVC Capital Partners on the minority investment in Aleph, the global partner to the world's biggest digital media players;
• Vendis Capital and the founder of Inula group on the auction sale of Inula, a key player in the herbal remedies market with Pranarom, HerbalGem and Biofloral brands, to Ardian;
• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) on the acquisition of a 39 per cent stake in Belgian car parking operator Interparking from AG Real Estate; and on the sale thereof;
• Telenet, the leading Belgian cable operator, on the €1.325bn acquisition of BASE company from KPN; the acquisition of the business of SFR in Belgium and Luxembourg from the Altice Group for a consideration of €400m on a cash-free debt-free basis; and the acquisition of Nextel;
• Perrigo on the €3.6bn acquisition of Omega Pharma from Waterland Private Equity and
  Marc Coucke;
• Marlin Equity Partners, a global investment firm, on a growth investment in iBanFirst, a cloud-based, payment institution delivering across border solutions;
• AAC Technologies on the acquisition of a majority stake in Premium Sound Solutions (PSS) from Value Enhancement Partners and Ardent Equity Management;
• The Swerts family (Soudal group) and 3d Investors on the acquisition of a stake of approximately 25 per cent in Studio 100, one of the largest independent providers of family entertainment in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and worldwide animation studios in Australia, Germany, France and the United States;
• One Equity Partners on the acquisition by its portfolio company Walki Group of 100 % of the shares of Mondi Belcoat, a Belgian extrusion coating company of Mondi Group;
• Solvay on the carve-out of their PVC business and creation of a joint venture with Ineos (Inovyn) followed by the termination thereof;
• Anheuser-Busch InBev on its acquisition of the Brouwerij Bosteels group from the Bosteels family and Waterland;
• Precirix NV, a Belgian biotech company and spin-off of the VUB, in its Series B financing round.