Austria
Dr Albert
Birkner
Cerha Hempel
Spiegelfeld
Albert Birkner has been with Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld since
1995. His main areas of practice are mergers & acquisitions, in
particular takeovers, and corporate restructurings. Albert Birkner
has represented various national and international clients in
takeover proceedings and general M&A matters before the
Austrian Takeover Commission. He also advises on company law
issues, in particular the transaction-related restructuring.
Albert Birkner graduated from the University of Vienna (Mag iur
1992, Dr iur 1995) and from the University of Cambridge (LLM 1995).
He worked as an academic assistant at the University of Vienna,
Institute for Tax Law (1991/1992). Among other publications in his
areas of expertise, he is an author and co-editor of a standard
publication on commercial precedents under Austrian law. Albert
Birkner is a university lecturer.
France
Mark Newbery
Herbert Smith
Mark is a member of Herbert Smith's energy group and head of the
firm's electricity group. He has recently returned to the London
office having been the managing partner of the firm's Singapore
office.
Mark advised on the privatization of the electricity supply
industry in the UK and most of the major developments in the
industry including the demerger of National Grid and the sale of
2000 MW of pumped storage generation. He has advised on over 40
Electricity restructurings and projects in over 15
jurisdictions.
- State Power Corporation of China on its proposed
restructuring and privatization
- Electrabel on its acquisition of two power projects under
development in Europe
- ADB on the restructuring and privatization of the
electricity industry in the Philippines
- Electricité de France on the 1200 MW virtual capacity
auctions
- JNOC on its bid for the assets of Devon Indonesia
- ONGC on its bid for oil and gas assets in Oman
- Singapore Power on its bid for London Electricity
E-mail:
mark.newbery@herbertsmith.com
Germany
Dr Wolf H von
Bernuth
Gleiss Lutz
Wolf H von Bernuth is a partner in the Berlin office of Gleiss
Lutz. After his education in Freiburg, New York, Hamburg and
Berlin, he joined the firm in 1996.
Wolf Heinrich v Bernuth specializes in energy law, with specific
practice in the gas and power sectors, and is a member of the
firm's Energy and Natural Resources Working Group. Wolf H v
Bernuth's clients include one of Germany's leading electricity
utilities as well as the London-based affiliate of a major US power
and gas trader and Erdöl Erdgas GmbH, a German affiliate of Gaz de
France. Although his focus is on power trading and commercial
energy law, he has participated in a number of high-profile M&A
projects in the energy sector.
Mayor transactions and clients include:
- Dresdner Bank in the merger of VEBA and VIAG to form
E.ON
- Enterprise Oil plc in a bid for a major upstream oil
business
- Aquila Energy and Aquila Energy GmbH in power trading
- EnBW Gesellschaft für Stromhandel in power trading
- EEG, an affiliate of Gaz de France, in energy matters
E-mail:
Wolf.Bernuth@gleisslutz.com
The
Netherlands
Max W
Oosterhuis
Loyens & Loeff
Max W Oosterhuis, born 1960, lawyer, admitted 1988, joined
Loyens & Loeff (formerly Loeff Claeys Verbeke) in 1988 and is a
partner in the corporate deparment of the Rotterdam office. He
graduated from the Leyden University (1986). His practice areas
are: corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and
privatization, with an emphasis on the electricity and gas
industry, cable-network and utilities branches. He frequently
lectures for various educational institutes and his publications
include various contributions on the Energy Distribution Act, the
Electricity Act 1988, the Gas Act and the Transition Act for the
Electricity Production sector. Mr Oosterhuis is a member of the
International Bar Association.
E-mail:
max.oosterhuis@loyensloeff.com
Philip W van
Verschuer
Loyens & Loeff
Philip W van Verschuer, born 1960, lawyer, admitted 1986, joined
Loyens & Loeff (formerly Loeff Claeys Verbeke) in 1986 and is a
partner in the corporate department of the Amsterdam office. He
specializes in corporate law, mergers, acquisitions and joint
ventures, management buy-outs, LBOs with a special focus on the
energy and telecom sector. He graduated from Utrecht University in
1984, and from the University of London in 1985. He has twice been
based in Loeff's New York office (1988 to 1989 and 1991 to 1996).
Mr van Verschuer is member of the International Fiscal Association;
International Bar Association; Association of the Bar of the City
of New York.
E-mail
philip.van.verschuer@loyensloeff.com
United
Kingdom
John Geraghty
Herbert Smith
John is a senior assistant in the Energy and Projects Group.
John has international experience encompassing M&A in the oil
and gas sectors, gas sales and purchase agreements and trading
arrangements for oil, gas and coal.
Leading deals include advising:
- CalEnergy on the disposal of its North Sea oil and gas
interests to Gaz de France
- BP in relation to disposals of oil producing and
exploration interests in the Middle East
- Petrobras on the $157 million sale of its North Sea oil and
gas interests to Enterprise Oil
- BNP Paribas on secured financings for Addax Petroleum's
Nigerian oil and gas interests
- Israel Electric Corporation on the acquisition of natural
gas for the fuelling of gas-fired power stations in Israel
- energy traders in relation to netting arrangements, gas and
power trading arrangements, on-line trading platforms,
sub-letting capacity in the Bacton/Zeebrugge Interconnector and
the sale of gas storage capacity.
E-mail:
john.geraghty@herbertsmith.com