Frans Overkleeft
Expertise
Frans has previously gained extensive experience as an M&A-lawyer within the firm. In that capacity, he has worked on various national- and cross border takeovers of both listed companies (e.g. public offers) as well as privately-held companies.
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Work highlights
- Acting for Triodos Bank in successfully defeating a petition for inquiry proceedings before the Enterprise Court (2022-2023)
- Acting for HAL in ICC arbitration proceedings and Dutch court proceedings against EssilorLuxottica concerning the sale of HAL's stake in GrandVision (2020-2021)
- Acting for Prime Oil & Gas in a securities class action brought by a Dutch claim foundation against Petrobras and certain other defendants (2020-2023).
- Acting for CRH Nederland in inquiry proceedings before the Enterprise Court brought against Benelux retailer Intergamma in which certain Intergamma shareholders/franchisees unsuccessfully sought to enjoin a transaction between Intergamma and CRH Nederland (2017-2019)
- Acting for ADS Securities in inquiry proceedings before the Enterprise Court brought by the management of Sapinda Holding (2017)
- Acting for Volkswagen in a securities class action brought by the VEB (2016-2021)
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What others say
- ‘Frans Overkleeft is an excellent litigator and legal advisor. He has a perfect balance between involvement and professional distance and independence. We feel truly unburdened and well represented. His expert knowledge is also impressive.’
The Legal 500 2024 - ‘Frans Overkleeft is a highly clever attorney who is very responsive, eloquent and well attuned to his client’s interests and needs. He is someone you want on your team. He is very pleasant to work with.’
The Legal 500 2023 - 'Frans Overkleeft is top notch in commercial litigation.'
The Legal 500 2022 - 'Frans Overkleeft is a very smart litigator with in-depth knowledge of corporate and commercial litigation. Frans is an expert in corporate law, particularly in the field of public and private M&A, which makes him stand-out compared to experts at other firms when it comes to M&A-related litigation. Very good in strategy and tactics, thinks multiple steps ahead of the game. When handling a major court case, Frans never loses the big picture, while keeping an eye for important details.'
The Legal 500 2021
- ‘Frans Overkleeft is an excellent litigator and legal advisor. He has a perfect balance between involvement and professional distance and independence. We feel truly unburdened and well represented. His expert knowledge is also impressive.’
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Academic work
In 2017, Frans received a PhD degree from the Erasmus University Rotterdam for a doctoral thesis on the position of shareholders in Dutch listed companies. Wolters Kluwer published his thesis as part of their Corporate Law Institute (Instituut voor Ondernemingsrecht) series. A pdf copy of the book can be accessed here
Between 2007 and 2011, he combined his practice at NautaDutilh with a part-time position as lecturer in Tilburg University's Business Law department teaching a variety of courses in the field of business and corporate law. Frans regularly contributes to various Dutch legal periodicals. -
Career and education
Frans graduated from Tilburg University with a masters' degree in Dutch law in 2005. He also holds an LL.M. degree from the University of Minnesota Law School (2006) and he was an exchange student for two semesters at Heidelberg University (2003-2004). Frans joined NautaDutilh in 2006 and became a partner in 2017.