Astrea Law Firm Expands its Capabilities with the arrival of a Banking & Finance partner
As of April 1st, 2014, the leading law firm Astrea has significantly expanded its capabilities with the arrival of new partner Dieter Veestraeten, who previously worked at Loyens & Loeff. The arrival of Dieter strengthens Astrea’s ability to handle complex and cross-border financial transactions for domestic and foreign clients. Dieter will join the Corporate & Finance team with its long experience in advising large Belgian and foreign companies and multinationals in the field of international finance transactions, debt transactions, restructuring and regulatory advice. With this expansion Astrea will have 10 partners and a total of 35 lawyers, 14 of which practise Corporate & Finance law. The aim is to further expand Astrea by attracting new partners and associates in the near future.
Astrea’s partners Ciska Servais and Olivier Van Fraeyenhoven, in charge of the executive management of Astrea, comment: “We are particularly delighted with the arrival of Dieter. Expanding our services and strengthening our office is another step toward our goal of turning Astrea into a leading independent full service law firm with extensive expertise and strong competencies in all legal practice areas that companies and governments have to deal with.”
Steven De Schrijver and Frédéric Verspreeuwen, partners in the Corporate Department of Astrea, note that: “Dieter brings along 14 years of experience in financial matters and a great number of international contacts. With his arrival we will be able to assist our clients, such as banks, companies, start-up and venture capital funds or governments, even better in all their Belgian and cross-border financing transactions.” With his thorough knowledge of German, acquired during his studies and an internship with a leading German law firm, Dieter also strengthens the German Desk of Astrea. Partners Marc Van Looveren and Louis Verstraeten, who are responsible for the German Desk, state, “with the arrival of an additional partner who can perfectly serve our clients in German, we are particularly well-equipped to assist all German companies in all possible transactions and disputes in Belgium. His network in German-speaking countries is certainly a nice addition to Astrea’s current
network and allows us to assist and advise our Belgian clients legally even better during their operations in those countries.” Dieter Veestraeten states: “I look forward to joining Astrea and expanding its Banking & Finance Department. Astrea’s commercial and no-nonsense approach to legal advice, its entrepreneurial spirit and ambition to grow, were extremely motivating and decisive factors to join the law firm.” Dieter Veestraeten adds that “Astrea’s vision on business law fits perfectly with my own vision. Today companies are more than ever looking for excellent service at a reasonable price, even in financing matters.”
ASTREA’S NEW PARTNER:
Dieter Veestraeten (1975), partner (degree in law, cum laude, University of Leuven (1998), LLM University of Konstanz, Germany (2000), Master of Business Law (University of Antwerp) (2004)). Dieter Veestraeten has 14 years of experience in advising Belgian and international companies in the field of financing (including general corporate finance, acquisition finance, project finance), restructurings and debt transactions. He has been involved in several domestic and cross-border transactions.
Dieter was mentioned by IFLR 1000 (2012 edition) as a leading expert in his field. Dieter worked for almost 13 years at Loyens & Loeff in Antwerp and Brussels and previously at De Bandt van Hecke Lagae & Loesch. In 2006 he spent six months at the leading German office Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek in Düsseldorf and Frankfurt as part of an exchange project.
Dieter is an active member of the Association Internationale des Jeunes Avocats (AIJA).