Country Desks

As a trusted advisor to founders, executives, investors, and board members, we guide companies based in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg (Benelux) as they launch, scale, raise funding, and exit in the U.S. via a U.S. IPO, and thereafter throughout their life cycles as U.S. publicly listed companies, or via a sale transaction involving a U.S. acquiror. We similarly counsel Benelux-based investors as they seek to deploy capital in the U.S. and the UK. In addition, in collaboration with our network of law firms and advisors located across Benelux, our attorneys have assisted U.S. clients engaged in corporate and commercial transactions in these countries.

Wilson Sonsini also has one of the largest dedicated data, privacy, and cybersecurity teams in Europe advising on a wide array of data protection issues, including in Benelux. Our services span counseling, transactional privacy, security breaches, and government investigations. In parallel, our European and UK competition team advises on merger control, cartel investigations, abuse of dominance, strategic collaborations, and distribution systems. Our diverse team, licensed across most EU jurisdictions and the UK, is uniquely positioned to address the intricate dynamics between competition law and data protection, in particular the latest EU data-related legislation, such as the Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act, Data Act, and AI Act.

In addition to the transactional matters mentioned below, Wilson Sonsini’s work on behalf of clients in Benelux—and clients doing business in Benelux—includes structuring and negotiating joint ventures and strategic agreements, and helping clients navigate issues involving intellectual property licensing and protection, privacy and data protection, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission inquiries and enforcement actions, internal investigations, and other U.S. regulatory and litigation matters.

Netherlands

Wilson Sonsini’s work in the Netherlands derives from building trusted relationships with Dutch clients, teaming with them on their critical transactions. For example, our firm represented Elastic in its U.S. IPO on Nasdaq and thereafter in its life as a U.S.-listed company. Transactions for Elastic included its acquisition of Endgame and its $500 million senior note offering. Wilson Sonsini also advised GeoPhy in its sale to Walker & Dunlop, Wercker in its sale to Oracle, and Grubhub in its $7.8 billion acquisition by Just Eat Takeaway.com.

Further, Wilson Sonsini is involved in organizations and initiatives focused on supporting business relationships between the Netherlands and the U.S. For example, since 2020, Wilson Sonsini has partnered with Holland in the Valley, an ecosystem that empowers Dutch entrepreneurs and talent to innovate and scale in the Bay Area by offering programs, content, and events. The partnership includes mentoring Dutch start-ups and scale-ups on U.S. expansion and fundraising. Wilson Sonsini also provides U.S.-focused support to Dutch start-ups and scale-ups through regular collaboration with ScaleNL and Techleap.

Of note, Wilson Sonsini Senior Of Counsel Tim Broas served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 2014 to 2016. During that time, he focused on facilitating international business and other diplomatic relationships.

A number of the firm’s attorneys are fluent in Dutch.

Luxembourg

Wilson Sonsini’s work in Luxembourg consists of advising both companies and investors on the full spectrum of legal issues, in particular with regard to venture financing, commercial relationships, and exit events, with a particular focus on cross-border transactions. For example, our firm represented shareholders of LMTS Holding S.C.A (Luxembourg) in their $190 million acquisition by Bird Rides, and Transplant Genomics Inc. in its $71.5 million acquisition by Eurofins Scientific (Luxembourg). The firm has also represented FREYR (Luxembourg) in a number of transactions, including its $704 million de-SPAC with Alussa Energy Acquisition and its definitive license and services agreement to use 24M’s SemiSolid lithium-ion battery platform technology in FREYR’s planned facilities in Mo i Rana, Norway.

Contacts:

Daniel Glazer

Tim Broas

Wilson Sonsini has established strong ties to French companies and entrepreneurs through our work on behalf of clients. Additionally, our firm has formed collaborative relationships with French law firms, investors, and other financial institutions. As a trusted advisor to entrepreneurs, executive officers, and board members, we guide French companies as they launch, scale, raise funding, and “exit” in the U.S. via a U.S. IPO, and thereafter throughout their life cycles as U.S. publicly listed companies, or via a sale. We similarly team with French investors as they seek to deploy capital in the U.S. In addition, in conjunction with our network of law firms and advisors across Europe, Wilson Sonsini represents U.S. clients engaged in business and commercial dealings in France and throughout the continent.

Wilson Sonsini can attribute a large degree of its success at building trusted relationships to its work on notable transactions involving French clients. For example, our firm represented Talend S.A. in its U.S. IPO on Nasdaq and thereafter in its life as a U.S. listed company. Transactions we handled for Talend included multiple public offerings through which its pre-IPO investors achieved liquidity, as well as the company’s €150 million convertible note offering. Our representation of Talend culminated in its US$2.4 billion acquisition by Thoma Bravo.  Additional French transactions include advising Drivy on its $300 million acquisition by Getaround and representing Rambus in its $85.64 million acquisition of PLDA.

Wilson Sonsini’s work on behalf of French clients—and clients doing business in and around France—includes helping them structure and negotiate joint ventures and strategic agreements and navigate issues involving intellectual property licensing and protection, commercial disputes, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission inquiries and enforcement actions, internal investigations, and other U.S. regulatory and compliance matters.

Further, we have one of the largest dedicated data, privacy, and cybersecurity teams in Europe advising on a wide array of data protection issues, including in France. Our services span counseling, transactional privacy, security breaches, and government investigations. In parallel, our European and UK competition team advises on merger control, cartel investigations, abuse of dominance, strategic collaborations, and distribution systems. Our diverse team, licensed across most EU jurisdictions and the UK, is uniquely positioned to address the intricate dynamics between competition law and data protection, in particular the latest EU data-related legislation, such as the Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act, Data Act, and AI Act.

Of note, more than 30 of the firm’s attorneys speak or are fully fluent in French.

Contacts:

Josh Kaplan

Yann Padova

Over the last several decades, Wilson Sonsini has formed close, collaborative relationships with entrepreneurs and companies in Ireland, as well as law firms, investors, and other financial institutions based in the country. As a trusted advisor to founders, executives, investors, and board members, we guide Irish companies as they launch, scale, raise funding, and exit in the U.S. via a U.S. IPO, and thereafter throughout their life cycles as U.S. publicly listed companies, or via a sale transaction involving a U.S. acquiror. We similarly counsel Ireland-based investors as they seek to deploy capital in the U.S. or the UK. In collaboration with our network of Irish law firms and advisors, our attorneys also assist U.S. clients engaged in business affairs throughout Ireland.

In addition to partnering with Irish clients as they raise capital in the U.S. through venture capital financings and U.S. IPOs, Wilson Sonsini has structured and negotiated a substantial number of cross-border Ireland-U.S. transactions. For example, Wilson Sonsini advised Pointy on its sale to Google for $163 million and Decawave on its sale to Qorvo for $400 million. We also represented Zymeworks in its exclusive licensing agreement with Dublin-based Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc and helped Dublin-based Wayflyer raise $76 million in its Series A financing from a global investor base.

Further, we have one of the largest dedicated data, privacy, and cybersecurity teams in Europe advising on a wide array of data protection issues, including in Ireland. Our services span counseling, transactional privacy, security breaches, and government investigations. In parallel, our European and UK competition team advises on merger control, cartel investigations, abuse of dominance, strategic collaborations, and distribution systems. Our diverse team, licensed across most EU jurisdictions and the UK, is uniquely positioned to address the intricate dynamics between competition law and data protection, in particular the latest EU data-related legislation, such as the Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act, Data Act, and AI Act.

In addition to the transactional and regulatory matters mentioned above, Wilson Sonsini’s work on behalf of Irish clients—and clients doing business in Ireland—includes helping them navigate issues involving intellectual property licensing and protection, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission inquiries and enforcement actions, internal investigations, and other U.S. regulatory compliance matters.

Contacts:

Steve Bernard

Deirdre Carroll

Through our strong ties to law firms, investors, and other entities based in Japan, Wilson Sonsini has assisted clients in their dealings with Japanese companies and financial institutions, among others. As a trusted advisor to founders, executives, investors, and board members, we guide Japanese companies as they launch, scale, raise funding, and exit in the U.S. via a sale transaction involving a U.S. acquiror or an IPO. We similarly counsel Japan-based investors as they seek to deploy capital in the U.S.

Our work for Japanese clients has included representing DeNA in its acquisition of ngmoco, Taiho Pharmaceutical in its $405 million acquisition of Cullinan Pearl, and Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories in its acquisition of Satsuma Pharmaceutical. We’ve also advised our U.S. clients on sales to Japanese acquirors, including the sale of Bungie to Sony Interactive Entertainment for $3.6 billion and the sale of the self-driving technology unit of Lyft acquisition to a subsidiary of Toyota for $550 million. In addition, Wilson Sonsini has structured and negotiated joint ventures and strategic agreements involving Japanese clients, such as the strategic collaboration agreements between JIXING and TMS Co.

In addition to the transactional matters mentioned above, Wilson Sonsini’s work on behalf of Japanese clients—and clients doing business in Japan—includes helping clients navigate issues involving intellectual property licensing and protection, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission inquiries and enforcement actions, internal investigations, CFIUS matters, and other U.S. regulatory and litigation matters.

Of note, Wilson Sonsini has hosted a series of events and meetings focused on Japanese business, technology, and life sciences initiatives. For example, our firm hosted Japan Healthcare Week 2023, a US-Japan Healthcare Connection collaboration, which followed a successful 2022 integrated program between the Japan Society of Northern California and US-Japan Medtech Frontiers, an organization co-founded by Wilson Sonsini.

A number of the firm’s attorneys are fluent in Japanese. Importantly, we are also well versed in business protocol and customs that are inherently important to business dealings and interactions with professionals throughout Japan.

Contacts:

Yokum Taku

Ken Funahashi

Wilson Sonsini brings its unique depth of experience to Latin America, where we represent hundreds of clients—including many anchor unicorns and leading regionally focused investors—in the region’s most dynamic markets, including Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and Chile, among others. Our attorneys have deep knowledge in all the crucial stages of the business life cycle, including experience in company formation, venture financing, expansion, branch operations, joint ventures, spin-offs, capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, antitrust and financial regulation, technology transactions, intellectual property counseling, and more.

Over the last decade, Wilson Sonsini has represented clients in hundreds of deals across Latin America, including some of the region’s most exciting and impactful venture-backed financings and high-profile mergers and acquisitions. Among these are the acquisition of EasyTaxi by Cabify, the merger of Grin and Yellow, the acquisition of Navent by QuintoAndar, the acquisition of Box Delivery by Rappi, the acquisition of OKOL by Habi, and the acquisition of Daitan by Encora.

We have also had the privilege of representing many of the most active and dynamic investors in the Latin American venture finance market, advising key players such as Valor Capital, Kaszek, monashees, and Lightrock, among others.

Wilson Sonsini has pioneered key innovations in the region, including sophisticated venture financing structures, complex corporate reorganizations, and creative solutions to the challenges posed by the region’s unique idiosyncrasies. In addition, our attorneys’ extensive knowledge and experience allow our clients to be exceptionally well positioned to deal with the market’s often challenging characteristics. To learn more, please visit our related Latin America practice page.

Our team consists of several attorneys who are native or fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

Contact:

Matt Squires

Vanessa Jacob Heck

Wilson Sonsini has established strong relationships in countries and regions in Southeast Asia, particularly in Singapore and Taiwan. As a trusted advisor to founders, executives, investors, and board members, we guide Singaporean, Taiwanese, and other Southeast Asian companies as they launch, scale, raise funding, and exit in the U.S. via a U.S. IPO, and thereafter throughout their life cycles as U.S. publicly listed companies, or via a sale transaction involving a U.S. acquiror. We similarly counsel Singapore- and Taiwan-based investors as they seek to deploy capital in the U.S. or Asia. In the course of representing clients in a wide range of matters, we’ve developed a strong foundation of relationships with local law firms, investors, and other financial institutions based in Singapore and Taiwan. Through this network, our attorneys assist U.S. clients engaged in business affairs across Asia.

In Singapore-based venture and private equity financings, Wilson Sonsini has represented companies such as d-Matrix in its $110 million Series B funding round led by Temasek. We have also represented a variety of Singapore-based investors, including Boyu Capital, HongShan Capital (formerly known as Sequoia China Capital), and Temasek. Recent representations include advising Boyu Capital in connection with the $587 million Series A financing of GDS International, which is headquartered in Singapore and focuses on Southeast Asian data center business; advising Boyu Capital on the acquisition of Quasar Medical, which has assembly facilities in Singapore; advising Temasek on the $400 million Series C financing by UPSIDE Foods; and advising HongShan Capital on the $210 million Series A financing by Envision Digital.

In Taiwan, we took Gogoro public on Nasdaq via a U.S. de-SPAC transaction. We have also advised Taiwan-based clients in contested matters, such as jury trial wins on behalf of Epistar and Cyntec in patent litigation disputes.

As to cross-border M&A transactions, Wilson Sonsini was ranked among the top 20 legal advisors, based on the number and value of Southeast Asia announced deals during the year, in Bloomberg’s Global M&A 2023 Legal Rankings.

In addition to the transactional matters and accolades mentioned above, Wilson Sonsini’s work on behalf of clients based in Singapore, Taiwan, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia—as well as clients doing business in Asia—includes structuring and negotiating joint ventures and strategic agreements, and helping such clients navigate issues involving intellectual property licensing and protection, privacy and data protection, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission inquiries and enforcement actions, internal investigations, and other U.S. regulatory compliance matters.

Of note, several of the firm’s attorneys are fluent in the primary languages spoken in Singapore and Taiwan.

Contacts:

Weiheng Chen

Xuchao Dong