Pitch Best Young M&A Lawyer 2020: Frank Hamming, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek
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What are the specialties of this talent?
Frank specialises in public M&A and complex private M&A transactions. He has been the lead associate in numerous high-profile cases, such as the public tender offer from Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. for QIAGEN N.V. (2020); the privatization of Eneco Groep N.V. (2019); the spin-out of ABN AMRO's private equity business (2018); and the successful defence of AkzoNobel N.V. against the unsolicited takeover offers from PPG Industries and the activist campaign initiated by Elliott Advisors (2017). Frank joined De Brauw in January 2013 and was an associate in our M&A practice for 1.5 years. From the start of his career, Frank made a good impression as a talented and driven M&A lawyer. After three years in our corporate litigation practice, Frank returned to the M&A department in May 2017. Since then, he has shown tremendous growth as an M&A lawyer and as an individual: we have given him a lot of freedom, and he has certainly risen, and even surpassed, the challenge.
How does the talent distinguish itself from its peers?
Frank stands out for his strong analytical skills and his calm, yet determined style. Able to handle the most complex topics, also on subjects outside of his specialization, he quickly gets to the core of things. Building on these qualities, he has proven himself on several occasions to be an excellent M&A lawyer; one who can take on a leading role in high-profile transactions. He takes full responsibility for his work and punches well above his weight. A great example is the role Frank played in the privatisation of Eneco – an extremely complex case with a deal value of EUR 4.1 billion, one of the largest privatisations in the last few years. Frank led the team on a daily basis, including in all interactions with the client and other parties. In fact, he acted as a peer of Bernard Roelvink (a 20 year partner and seasoned M&A practitioner in our country) who was leading the team together with Frank. In a decisive phase of the deal, Bernard had to go abroad, which is when Frank stepped in and oversaw the transaction, and led the SPA negotiations with bidders on behalf of Eneco's shareholders. The dedication Frank demonstrated throughout Eneco's privatization was visible to everyone: to us internally, but also externally by other M&A professionals involved in that deal. According to Philip ten Bosh, head of the Citigroup team advising Eneco and its shareholders, Frank "made a great impression standing his ground against very seasoned dealmakers on the other side of the table. He made excellent use of the competitive tension in the process when pushing hard on the points his clients felt most strongly about, while also showing a cooperative side when helping bidders to come up with creative solutions that would address their concerns."
What impact does the talent have within the organization?
Frank makes a great contribution to the firm. He is an incredibly pleasant colleague to work with at all levels of the firm, partners and junior staff alike. Frank cares a lot about the development of our associates and voluntarily participates in their training and mentoring. He finds it important to challenge his team members, and to make sure they learn how to communicate and work with clients. He is the proverbial "team player": always willing to help other people out in the team, and to roll his sleeves up for whatever needs to be done. As a member of the gender diversity committee, he also promotes a diverse and inclusive culture in our firm.
What impact does the talent have outside the organization?
Clients and other advisers value Frank for his professional attitude, his results-focused attitude, and his committed contribution to the projects he participates in. He is often praised as a pragmatic dealmaker who tries to find common ground between the various parties involved. Outside of his work, Frank devotes much of his time on developing the future generation of lawyers. For six years, he coached a team of students from the University of Amsterdam in the Willem C. Vis Moot Court – a well-known, international commercial arbitration moot court competition. Under his supervision, the University of Amsterdam team has become one of the most successful teams in recent years. In order to give students in less fortunate circumstances an equal chance to develop themselves, he used his network within the moot court community to support a team from Nigeria to also participate in this competition.
To what extent does the talent makes the difference to clients?
Clients genuinely like working with Frank and value him for his dedication and the quality of his work. He is able to quickly build a relationship with clients and often becomes the link between our team and the client's team. Frank sees his role as a lawyer as part of a broader landscape, and is able to immediately click with our clients' executive teams and other specialists involved in the transactions he works on. When advising AkzoNobel on its successful defence against the unsolicited takeover offers from PPG Industries and the activist campaign initiated by Elliott Advisors, Frank worked seamlessly together with the IR and communications teams of AkzoNobel. Recently, I worked with Frank on the public tender offer from Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. for QIAGEN N.V. From the outset, QIAGEN entrusted Frank with leading large parts of the complex tasks that needed to be done. It was remarkable to observe someone his age and with his level of experience interact with QIAGEN's board and executive team. Roland Sackers, CFO of QIAGEN since 2004, commented on his role: "Frank made a great impression from the start, displaying excellent legal knowledge and, above all, a strong analytical mind. He played an important role in discussions on strategy and deal tactics with our executive team and our other advisors. In the meetings he participated in, he gained trust through his composure and decisiveness." One final remark: Frank not only connects well with clients, just as easily he is able to exert a positive influence on all other advisors involved in a transaction, such as banks, tax advisors and, not in the least, the legal advisors for the other parties. Being able to do so is absolutely crucial in being able to get a deal through, as we all know, and Frank truly excels in this. This is evidenced by the testimonial given by Philip ten Bosch, Co-Head of Global Power and Utilities CIB at Citigroup, with whom Frank worked closely on the Eneco transaction.
Why does the talent deserves this nomination?
Frank is an excellent M&A lawyer with a bright future ahead of him. Already at his young age (31), he has impressed many clients and M&A professionals with his work and character. I am certainly not the only one who believes that Frank should be recognised as the 'Best Young M&A Lawyer'. Both Roland Sackers (CFO of QIAGEN N.V.) and Philip ten Bosch (Co-head of Global Power and Utilities CIB at Citigroup) have worked closely with Frank and express their support for his nomination.
