Homburger - The Who's Who Legal 100 2012

What is the Who's Who Legal 100?

The firm is “internationally renowned” for its tax practice, and four members of the tax team are listed for their expertise in this area. The “outstanding” Dieter Grünblatt has broad experience in tax structuring of national and international capital market transactions, acquisitions and reorganisations and collective investment schemes. He is a certified tax expert and “an authority on the most complex tax matters”. Peter Riedweg has “unsurpassed knowledge in the sector”, having worked as a tax partner at a large economic consultancy. Eveline Saupper gives “detailed, comprehensive advice in a user-friendly form” while Markus Weidmann is commended as “extremely bright”.

Four lawyers are listed for their M&A work, including the “multi-talented” Daniel Daeniker who also appears in the banking, capital markets, private funds, insurance and corporate governance chapters. Daeniker is head of the corporate/M&A practice team and lectures on law at the University of Zurich. He recently led the Homburger team which acted as Swiss counsel to STADA, a German pharmaceutical company, in its acquisition of the generics business of Spirig Pharma. Peers consider him a “standard-setter” for other practitioners. Dieter Gericke has a strong track record in complex cross-border transactions involving cash and equity components, and receives praise for his “strategic, effective advice”. Claude Lambert is “highly sensitive to clients’ needs” and Heinz Schärer is a “big name” in both M&A and corporate governance, for which he is also listed.

The firm’s banking and capital markets teams are “globally respected” and the corresponding chapters list three Homburger lawyers apiece. René Bösch features in both sections and retains the title as our international capital markets lawyer of the year. He is head of the firm’s financial services practice team and specialises in offerings of debt and equity-linked securities, regulatory capital instruments for banks as well as hybrid financial instruments. Sources describe his expertise as “mind-blowing” and note that he is “top of many people’s lists”. Benedikt Maurenbrecher is also nominated in both chapters and garnered votes for his “innovative approach to problem-solving”.

Andri Hess features in both the life sciences and patents chapters. He has extensive experience in representing clients in patent and other IPR litigation and arbitration in a broad range of sectors and is praised by sources as a “technically superb” lawyer. Georg Rauber in listed for his expertise in regulatory communications and internet and e-commerce chapters. He heads the IP/IT practice team and garnered votes for his “in-depth industry knowledge”.

Further strong performances in the competition, litigation and arbitration sections attest to Homburger’s “gold-standard” credentials in the legal market both in Switzerland and around the world.

Homburger - Professional Notice

We offer our clients comprehensive legal advice, as well as providing support in negotiations, and represent them before courts, arbitral tribunals, agencies, and in administrative proceedings. In so doing, we place great value not only on the identification of sustainable solutions to complex legal issues, but also on the achievement of our clients’ individual commercial goals.

We work closely with leading law firms abroad which enables us to provide Swiss companies with optimal solutions, regardless of where their business activities take place.

The Homburger team includes lawyers that are registered with the Bar Association of the Canton of Zurich or in their respective jurisdictions as well as tax experts. Most of our lawyers also have additional qualifications and have studied and/or worked abroad.

Expertise

All 120-odd lawyers and tax experts are members of at least one of the firm’s six practice teams. The practice teams focus on the following areas:

Corporate/M&A: Mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures (national and international); public takeovers; equity capital market (ECM) transactions including IPOs, capital increases and other corporate finance transactions; private equity and venture capital transactions; employee participation; restructurings and reorganisations; corporate litigation and investigations; corporate governance; and the full range of corporate legal services.

Financial Services: Debt capital markets (straight and equity-linked bonds, eurobonds); equity capital markets (IPOs, capital increases) and private equity; derivatives (listed products, OTC and structured derivatives); syndicated, structured, collateralised and hybrid financings; bank, securities dealer, stock exchange, insurance and investment fund licences, regulation and compliance; bank contracts (asset management, custody, collateral, banking secrecy); and litigation and administrative proceedings (courts, FINMA, SIX).

Litigation/Arbitration: International commercial arbitration (party representation and acting as arbitrator); commercial, construction and employment litigation and related proceedings (including preliminary relief, enforcement and attachment proceedings) before Swiss courts; international dispute resolution strategy and planning; alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and mediation; insolvency matters and related litigation including directors’ and officers’ liability; investigation of, and representation in connection with, corporate irregularities, including white-collar crime; representation in civil and criminal judicial assistance proceedings; and expert advice and testimony on Swiss law.

Tax: Corporate reorganisations, group structuring, reconstructions; mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, disposals and joint ventures, management buy-outs; private equity and venture capital; cross-border transactions, treaty interpretation, transfer pricing, coordination international projects; banking, insurance and capital market products; top executive tax planning, including employee share and stock option plans; advice on estate and tax planning for high net worth individuals; tax litigation; and advice on VAT.

IP/IT: IP and IT-related litigation and arbitration; IT contracting, outsourcing, carve-out and other IT-related transactions; fair trading, protection of know-how and trade secrets; licensing, technology transfer, distribution, franchising (agreements and strategic advice); law on therapeutic products and regulatory matters; data protection; telecommunications; media, sports and entertainment; advice on strategic aspects of IP prosecution; and IP and IT due diligence and compliance.

Competition: EU and domestic merger control, including co-ordination of multi-jurisdictional filings; behavioural practice; contentious practice; civil antitrust litigation; liberalisation of regulated industries and privatisation; corporate counselling and compliance programmes; regulated markets such as energy, communication, health care and media; and public procurement, trade and state aid.

Homburger also has five working groups: employment law, insolvency/restructuring, insurance, private clients and white-collar/investigations. They bring members of the various practice teams together to focus on key issues of relevance to our clients. This collaboration permits us to provide comprehensive and competent advice in overlapping areas of the law.

Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish

Office: Homburger AG, Prime Tower, Hardstrasse 201, CH-8005 Zurich

Tel: +41 43 222 10 00, Fax: +41 43 222 15 00

lawyers@ homburger.ch

www.homburger.ch