Profession
Avocat/Advocaat
Experience
Henk Vanhulle has significant experience in corporate tax, with particular emphasis on international tax planning, corporate finance, capital market transactions and corporate M&A. His experience also includes employee share schemes and tax litigation, as well as tax aspects related to private banking and estate planning.
Significant transactions have included:
- cross-border group restructurings and joint ventures
- direct and indirect regulatory Tier 1 issues for Belgian banks
- cross-border leases regarding real estate, movable assets
- securitisation (true sale as well as synthetic CLO/CBO structures)
- MTN programmes and structured bond issues (often with clearing in X/N system)
- structured products such as total return swaps, credit default swaps, credit spread derivatives and equity derivatives
- structuring of leveraged acquisitions and their financing
- setting up of private equity funds and investment funds
Recent transactions include advising:
- Fortis Holding (Fortis SA/NV and Fortis N.V. and their subsidiaries) on the transactions that the Fortis group had to enter into in order to safeguard the continuity of its operations following the liquidity crisis of September and October 2008.
- KBC Group in the €3.5bn injection by the Belgian State in KBC Group NV and advising KBC Group on the asset protection guarantee by the Belgian State (announced 14 May 2009).
- Fortis and VINCI to create the world’s leading car park operator.
- a major Belgian bank on the issue in September of 2008 of €2bn of Non-Innovative Tier 1 Subordinated Hybrid securities (aborted deal).
- various global financial institutions and large multinationals in structuring and setting up intra-group finance and treasury centres, thereby making use of the innovative notional interest deduction regime that is applicable as of 1 January 2006. The equity contributed to these centres varies from €270 million to €7 billion.
Professional experience
2007 - Head of Tax, Linklaters, Brussels
2002 - 2007 Partner, Linklaters De Bandt, Brussels*
2000 - 2001 Partner, De Bandt, van Hecke, Lagae & Loesch, Brussels
1995 - 2000 Partner, De Bandt, van Hecke, Lagae & Loesch, Antwerp
1986 - 1994 Associate, De Bandt, van Hecke, Lagae & Loesch, Brussels
* In 2002, De Bandt, van Hecke, Lagae & Loesch merged with Linklaters
Education
1989 - 1990 Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Fiscales, Diplôme
1988 - 1989 University of Illinois College of Law, LL.M.
1981 - 1985 Catholic University of Louvain, KUL, Lic. Jur
Languages
Dutch, English, French
