PhD Economist · Deep Insights
Litigation Expertise
Cases flagged with a † are collective redress actions
Securities Litigation
Banking group shareholder lawsuit (Benelux)†
Highly ranked local law firms
Retained to assist a Benelux financial services group with evaluating share price inflation arising from alleged misstatements, estimating potential total litigation claims from shareholders, and providing guidance on potential settlement structuring.
Confidential administrative proceedings (European Union)
Magic Circle law firm
Filed an expert report on behalf of a listed industrial company defending itself against allegations of market manipulation in administrative proceedings initiated by a European market regulator.
Steinhoff shareholder lawsuit (Netherlands)†
Linklaters
Retained to assist Steinhoff and Linklaters with preparation for litigation, evaluating share price inflation arising from alleged misstatements, estimating potential total litigation claims from shareholders, and providing guidance on potential settlement structuring.
Confidential financial litigation (Denmark)
Local litigation-focused law firm
Filed an expert report on the consequences for shareholders of a listed firm of a potential lack of transparency on certain important value-relevant matters.
Confidential financial litigation (Netherlands)
Highly ranked local law firms
Assisted a listed company fined by the Dutch financial market regulator in defending itself in court against allegations of wrongful disclosures and market manipulation.
Shareholder lawsuit between former shareholders of the ARCO Group (“ARCO”), ARCO, former managers of ARCO, and the Kingdom of Belgium (Belgium)†
Clifford Chance, Strelia
Filed an expert report with the Brussels Enterprise Court on behalf of the Federal Belgian government, evidencing the financial situation in which ARCO found itself because of the financial crisis, in proceedings relating to the nationalisation of the Dexia banking group and the bankruptcy of the ARCO Group, one of Dexia’s main institutional shareholders. All the parties agreed with our report and the case was dismissed by the court.
Confidential administrative proceedings (France)
Linklaters
Filed an expert report on behalf of a listed French biotech company and its CEO defending themselves against allegations of market abuse in administrative proceedings initiated by the French market regulator. As a result of the report we filed, the case was dismissed, and the CEO was exonerated on all counts.
Fortis-Ageas shareholder lawsuit and related litigation and settlement (Belgium and the Netherlands)†
Linklaters, de Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Cleary Gottlieb, Clifford Chance, and Buyle Legal
Retained by Ageas and other defendants as joint defence economist and filed various expert reports on behalf of Ageas (ex-Fortis) in multiple courts and jurisdictions in several securities lawsuits, leading to Europe’s largest-ever settlement. Assessed damages under different theories of harm, analysed claimant records, and worked with the firm’s legal team and with multiple teams of lawyers over a multiyear period.
Other Finance Litigation
Confidential arbitration proceedings (Belgium)
Magic Circle law firm
Filed an expert report and testified as an economic expert on behalf of the seller of a healthcare business in a post-acquisition claim relating to complex, long-term financial constructs. The arbitral tribunal followed our arguments on the absence of economic causality and rejected every single of the buyer’s demands.
Confidential arbitration proceedings (Belgium)
Magic Circle law firm
Filed an expert report and testified as an economic expert on behalf of a French food manufacturer in a post-acquisition claim against a family investment group.
Confidential civil proceedings (Netherlands)
de Brauw Blackstone Westbroek
Filed an expert report with the Court of Appeal of Amsterdam on behalf of a Dutch holding company belonging to a Russian group in a case involving the freezing of the company’s monetary assets because of a court order that was subsequently annulled.
Confidential civil proceedings (Netherlands)
Global Elite law firm
Filed an expert report with the Court of Appeal of Amsterdam on behalf of a foreign government agency in litigation against the bankruptcy trustee of a failed European commercial bank that was a subsidiary of the agency.
Competition (Antitrust) and Commercial Litigation
Confidential merger proceedings (Belgium)
Leading US law firm
Supported a third-party complainant in merger proceedings between American and German companies that set up a joint venture allowing the American company to integrate vertically.
Confidential competition enforcement proceedings (Belgium)
Leading US law firm
Performed an empirical economic assessment of the impact of contractual clauses that were considered anticompetitive by the Directorate General Competition (DG COMP) of the European Commission in the European hospitality industry.
Confidential cartel assessment (European Union)
Highly ranked local law firm
Retained to assist a European transport operator with assessing its potential monetary exposure due to a cartel it was found guilty to be a member of over an extended period by European competition authorities.
Confidential mediation proceedings (Belgium)
Highly ranked Belgian law firm
Filed an expert report in mediation proceedings on behalf of a large online platform operator being accused by an online entertainment operator of taking action to prevent it from advertising its services, in breach of their commercial contract.
Confidential litigation (Belgium)
Linklaters
Filed an expert report with the Court of Appeal of Liège on behalf of a Belgian electricity and gas grid operator in litigation against its regulator. The case settled favourably for our client.
Confidential competition litigation (Belgium)
Highly ranked local law firm
Filed an expert report in Belgian court in damages proceedings against an IT platform operator accused of exclusionary and predatory pricing practices by a disgruntled competitor.
Plant protection cartel litigation (Germany)†
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein
Filed an expert report with the Dortmund Court on behalf of BGG/TransAtlantis, a litigation funder, in damages proceedings against German wholesalers of plant protection products.
Confidential state aid proceedings (European Union)
Highly ranked local law firm
Prepared a detailed report on the distortive effects in the airline industry of certain subsidies granted by regional public authorities to certain airports.
Truck cartel litigation (Germany, Netherlands and France)†
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, AKD, Ayache
Filed expert and rebuttal reports with the Munich, Amsterdam, and Lyon District courts on behalf of TransAtlantis, a litigation funder, in damages proceedings against European truck manufacturers, which cartelised the market between 1997 and 2011.
Truck cartel litigation (Netherlands)†
Litigation-focused local law firm
Filed an expert report with the Amsterdam District Court on behalf of Deminor, a litigation funder, in damages proceedings against European truck manufacturers, which cartelised the market between 1997 and 2011.
Intellectual Property Litigation
Confidential intellectual property litigation (Belgium, France and Germany)
Highly ranked Benelux, French, and German law firms
Filed expert reports with the Brussels Enterprise Court and the Judiciary Tribunal of Paris on the absence of causal relationship between a patent’s alleged infringement and economic harm alleged by the patent owner. On subsidiary grounds, re-estimated this economic harm using adequate assumptions and methods, resulting in a significantly lower damages exposure.
Confidential trademark infringement litigation (Belgium)
Highly ranked Benelux and German law firms
Filed multiple expert reports with the Brussels Enterprise Court on behalf of a German household goods wholesaler in trademark infringement and foreclosure proceedings against one of its listed competitors.
Confidential trademark infringement dispute (France)
Highly ranked French law firm
Assessed the value of a trademark registered by a French group active in an industry when a foreign group active in another industry entered the market and sought to use the same trademark, which fed into negotiations between the two groups.
Criminal proceedings (United States)
Multinational law firm
Supported several software engineering experts in identifying the causes of an IT system failure having resulted in an explosion in a US shopping mall.
Confidential arbitration proceedings (France)
International Business law firm
Supported a prominent software engineering academic, Prof. Bertrand Meyer (ETH Zürich), in preparing reports on the causes of the failure of a large-scale IT project, on behalf of a leading global IT software development company. The case settled favourably for our client just before hearings.
Confidential commercial litigation (France)
IP-focused local law firm
Assessed the Standard Essential Patent infringement claims filed by a patent pool against a major smartphone manufacturer and fed findings on violations of FRAND principles to counsel
Consulting and Advisory
Valuation of Air Austral (France)
Fréget Glaser Associés
Filed an expert report on the valuation of distressed French airline Air Austral with France’s Commission des Participations et Transferts (CPT) in the context of the privatisation and a recapitalisation of the airline. After I testified in front of a panel of experts designated by CPT, the transaction was approved.
Valuation of a patent portfolio in the aerospace industry
Provided an independent assessment of the royalties attributable to a patent portfolio to a parts manufacturer supplying a leading aerospace manufacturer, which fed into licensing negotiations between the two parties
Valuation
Various confidential transfer pricing and valuation assignments (Belgium)
Magic Circle and highly ranked local law firms
Worked with law firm clients to establish and document Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development-compliant transfer prices and a related contractual framework in collaboration with a leading Belgian law firm.
Board Advisory
Sale of Aviabel SA to AXIS Capital (Belgium)
Advised the Board of Directors on the value of Aviabel SA, a specialist insurer and reinsurer for the aviation and aerospace industry and on accepting a binding offer made for the company by AXIS Capital, a listed global insurer and reinsurer.
Confidential study for African airline (Africa)
Conducted a study on the feasibility of developing and implementing a foreign exchange and jet fuel hedging strategy for an incumbent African airline.
Transactions in the insurance industry (Belgium and France)
Advised Board of Directors and/or executives of large and small insurance companies on contemplated M&A (e.g., transfer of Fidea’s employee benefit portfolio to AG Insurance, etc.), capital raising (e.g., P&V’s issuance of a Tier 2 subordinated bond), asset valuation and liability management transactions (e.g., substitution of subordinated on-loans by publicly listed instruments at Ageas/AG Insurance). Assisted in completing some transactions or selecting specialist financial advisors.