Corporate Finance, Securities, Business & Litigation Law Firm in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles

Spigthoff Attorneys at Law & Tax Advisers

Main Office
Scharlooweg 33
Willemstad Curacao
Netherlands Antilles

+599 9 4618700

+599 9 4618073

www.spigthoffcuracao.com

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Law Firm Overview

Spigthoff Attorneys at Law & Tax Advisers is an independent law firm established on January 1, 2001. The principal office of the firm is located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Spigthoff also has an office at Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. The Amsterdam office of Spigthoff concentrates on corporate, tax and securities law, with a focus on dispute resolution.

Spigthoff currently employs about 51 attorneys and tax advisers. The partners in Spigthoff are experienced attorneys and tax advisers, who joined from other large firms. They are well seasoned in complex legal matters while some cases became landmarks in their field.

The Curacao office of Spigthoff is a full service law firm, offering services in any commercial area of law, including tax law. The Curacao tax department, headed by Mrs. Xandra Kleine-van Dijk, formerly with Baker & McKenzie in Washington DC and PricewaterhouseCoopers in Curacao, is in particular experienced in international financing structures involving the Netherlands Antilles.

Curacao, the main Island of the Netherlands Antilles, accommodates several so-called Economic Zones (’E-Zones’) that provide a suitable location to set up international trade, services or e-commerce businesses.

An E-Zone is a specific appointed area within the Netherlands Antilles in which, amongst other, international trade and trade supportive services may be performed whether or not supported by electronical communication and information equipment (e-commerce). Such an area has a manager that coordinates admittance with the authorities. E-Zone companies benefit a very favorable tax regime in the Netherlands Antilles with respect to corporate income tax (the rate is 2%), custom duties, turnover tax and expatriate tax facilities as long as they are actual located an officially admitted in an E-zone.

Our involvement right at the start in what has been up to now the largest liability class action settlement in the Netherlands speaks volumes.

We advised the supervisory board in connection with the largest liquidation seen in the Netherlands in the past decades. We advised a hedge fund in a struggle for a bank that was without precedent in Dutch commercial history. All too often the AFM, the Dutch securities regulator, is left nursing a sore head from what we throw them. In the area of tax we are specialized in national and international planning for companies and for Dutch ultra-high net worth individuals. We lay stress on innovative, yet always doable, solutions with the assistance of topflight foreign law offices where necessary.

Spigthoff has now built up a fearsome reputation grounded on quality, an unwavering sense of direction and on being unafraid. Nor are we known for shying away from a fight. A reputation we are proud of.

Year this Office was Established: 2001

Languages: Dutch, English, French and German

Practice Areas

Spigthoff Attorneys at Law & Tax Advisers represent business leaders and corporations. We are at our best in major, complex issues where problems and conflicts need to be solved. This can cover problems with the tax authorities, but also with a company’s stakeholders or with regulatory authorities. Compared to other corporate attorneys at law, we go to litigation more often.

Some of the main international areas of practice are:

- Corporate Litigation

Spigthoff is presently assisting an international bank in a dispute which is considered to be one of the largest ever to be brought before a Dutch court, involving the defence of the client against class actions brought by former securities clients. Present representation also includes the supervisory board of directors in relation to one of the largest insolvencies in Dutch history. Partners of the firm are representing and have represented foreign and foreign owned clients in proceedings in the Netherlands and Netherlands Antilles courts, in particular in securities-related conflicts/ disputes with the authority for the financial markets (AFM), directors' liability claims and banking disputes.

- Tax, National and International

Acclaimed tax lawyer Mr Charles Langereis is advisor to the firm. Mr Langereis and the tax firm's partners have extensive experience in representing various multinational corporations in the Dutch tax courts. The Curaçao Department, headed by Mrs Xandra Kleine-Van Dijk, formerly with Baker & McKenzie in Washington DC, is in particular experienced in international financing structures involving the Netherlands Antilles.

- Mergers & Acquisitions

The Curaçao office serves an international client base investing in or through the Netherlands Antilles. The firm was involved in the divestiture of a major bank's Caribbean retail network and in the privatization of Curaçao international airport, in addition to having been involved in numerous other privatization projects. Services offered to the international client base cover the full spectrum of local laws. The Amsterdam office has extensive (international) experience in M&A, private equity and venture capital.

- White-Collar Crime

Partners of the firm have a vested reputation for conducting successful defenses in a number of highly publicized cases (and have managed to keep other potentially explosive cases away from the media). Defended cases include, in particular, insider trading and tax evasion.

- Arbitration

Members of the firm are experienced in the conduct of foreign language arbitration, both under local and international arbitration rules.

- Banking, Securities and Funds

The Curaçao office is frequently assisting international banks and corporations in the documentation and negotiation of tax driven transactions through the Netherlands Antilles. Those transactions relate to (term loan) credit facility agreements, structured finance (collateralized debt obligations, credit-linked notes, note issuance programmes, securitizations, acquisitions and project finance), security documentation, ship financing, aircraft financing and group finance companies.

- Insolvency

The firm has ample experience in restructuring distressed corporations, both as advisers to the company and as advisers to creditors.

Additional Practice Areas: Funds, Regulatory Compliance

Partners

	Mr. Karel Frielink Partner Banking Law, Commercial Law, Corporate Law, E-Commerce, Finance		Mrs. Xandra Kleine Van Dijk Tax Partner Employee Benefits, Estate Planning, International Law, Tax
	Mr. Leo C.J.M. Spigt Chairman Bankruptcy, Commercial Law, Corporate Law, Criminal Law, Litigation		Mr. Arnold van der Smeede Tax Partner International Law, Investment Law, Property Law, Tax, Lease Transactions
	Mr. Martijn Welten Partner Bankruptcy, Business Formation, Business Law, Commercial Litigation, Corporate Law