Filip Lecoutre

Filip advises corporates, financial institutions and private equity firms on corporate law both in Belgium and on transactions with a Belgian nexus. He specialises in private and public mergers and acquisitions. In addition, he is an expert in equity capital markets transactions, regularly advising on initial public offerings, rights issues and accelerated bookbuilt offerings. 

He is sought-after for complex M&A transactions by listed companies and corporates. He has a unique profile and track record advising on all types of entry and exit of investments. 

Work highlights

Recognised as a rising star of the next generation for M&A in Legal 500 since 2018 and leading for M&A and capital markets in Leaders League, Filip has been involved in a wide range of major deals. His transactions include advising:

• Virya Energy on the €1.55bn sale of its offshore wind activities to JERA
• Agfa-Gevaert on the €975m sale of part of its HealthCare IT business
• AXA on the sale of AXA Bank Belgium to CrelanCo and the acquisition of Crelan Insurance by AXA Belgium
• Shurgard Self Storage, the largest owner and operator of self-storage facilities in Europe, on its €575m initial offering to institutional investors and subsequent listing of the shares on Euronext Brussels
• Ablynx on the €3.9 bn recommended tender offer by Sanofi 
• HgCapital on the acquisition of Combell Group, the leading mass hosting business in Denmark and Belgium
• X-FAB Silicon Foundries, the leading analogue/mixed-signal and MEMS foundry group manufacturing silicon wafers for automotive, industrial, consumer, medical and other applications, on its IPO
• Waterland on its investment in and subsequent exit from listed company Fagron
• SABMiller on the US$108bn recommended acquisition by Anheuser-Busch InBev
• Mohawk Industries on its US$1.2bn acquisition of IVC Group, a major vinyl and laminate flooring manufacturer

Filip has been recognized by Legal 500. In 2018 and 2019 he was acknowledged as a “Next Generation lawyer” in the field of Commercial, Corporate and M&A. In 2020, Legal 500 named him a “Rising Star” and, following promotion, a “Next Generation Partner”. That recognition was confirmed in the following years.

Filip’s publications include:

• “State of the Belgian Listed Companies”, Tijdschrift voor Belgisch Handelsrecht (TBH) 2022, with Victor Burki and Andreas Depoortere
• Dual Track Transactions: At the Crossroads of IPO and M&A”, JPB – Liber amicorum Jean-Pierre Blumberg, Intersentia, 2021, with Arnaud Coibion
• Belgium, European Securities Law (third edition), Oxford University Press, 2021, with Jean-Pierre Blumberg
• “Inbreng in natura, inkoop eigen aandelen en financiële bijstand”, Nieuw juridisch Weekblad (NjW) 2009, with Michael Heene

Filip studied law at the University of Antwerp and holds a master’s degree in law from the University of Leuven, including an Erasmus exchange to the University of Poitiers and a LL.M from the University of Illinois. 

He speaks Dutch, English and French.