Lovells wins Ekelmans nod thanks to Dutch courage

MERGER: Dutch partners approve alliance without a vote

Lovells is set to swallow 13-partner Dutch firm Ekelmans Den Hollander after the City firm's partners voted overwhelmingly in favour of the move.

The 13 Ekelmans partners will join the 260-strong Lovells partnership without voting on the issue.

Lovells international partner John Pheasant said: 'As far as I am aware, the Dutch partners didn't even need to vote.' He explained that the Ekelmans partners had been behind the merger since talks began last December.

The two partnerships entered full-blown negotiations in September.

Lovells is also believed to have achieved some headway in Spain, after a year that has seen it expand in Poland with lateral hires from CMS Cameron McKenna, open in Italy and Budapest, and merge Lovell White Durrant and German firm Boesebeck Droste.

Ekelmans joint managing partners Jan de Snaijer and Bert Oosting will join Lovells' executive, responsible for the day-to-day running of the firm, and will continue to run the Dutch practice when the firms merge on 1 May.

However, they will not automatically join the firm's elected board.

The deal is subject to regulatory clearance by Dutch advocates' and notary regulators.Ekelmans' clients include multi-nationals Glaxo Wellcome and Honeywell and financial institutions Rabobank and Fortis.

Mr Pheasant said that many of Lovells' corporate and financial clients do business in the Netherlands, but that so far Lovells has farmed out work to a law firms, without any formal referral relationship.

Anne Mizzi