Cresco

Founding Partner: David Dessers

Managing Partner: Olivier Van Raemdonck

Number of partners: 4

Number of lawyers: 25

Languages: Dutch, English and French

Firm Overview:

Cresco is a premier law firm with an exclusive focus on entrepreneurship, serving leading entrepreneurs, venture capital and private equity investors and innovative companies. We are recognized for delivering excellent value with high efficiency and speed.

Main Areas of Practice:

Mergers & Acquisitions:

Cresco’s M&A practice covers i.a. information technology, clean tech, life sciences, hospitality, real estate and infrastructure.

■ Materialise (Nasdaq listed) in RS Scan acquisition

■ Newtec and its shareholders in Singapore Technologies acquisition

■ Borit and its shareholders in Weifu acquisition

■ Dovesco in Netflow and Accel acquisitions

■ Core Equity Holdings in dental buy-and-build acquisitions

Key Clients: Dovesco, SmartFin, imec, Gimv, Materialise, PMV, Fortino

Venture Capital & Private Equity:

Cresco has market-leading capabilities in private equity and venture capital matters including fund formation, capital raisings, (regulatory) compliance, and investments and divestments of portfolio companies.

■ Formation and fundraising of various funds (SmartFin funds, Novalis funds, imec.xpand)

■ Represented funds in various investments in Belgium, The Netherlands, Turkey, Germany, United Kingdom, USA, Indian and Middle East

Key Clients: imec, Qbic, Volta, SmartFin, Novalis, Fortino, PMV, Gimv, Qbic Ventures, Droia, btov

Emerging & Growth Companies Practice:

Cresco represents entrepreneurs, start-ups, emerging and growth companies, in the realisation of their plans and ideas, fundraisings and organising their day-to-day business.

■ Skipr and Lab Box in strategic Belfius investment and commercial collaboration

■ Pharrowtech, Micledi and Pulsify, imec spin-offs, in their Series A investment rounds

■ Droia, Polaris, Alsa and Pfizer in Montis venture capital investment

Key Clients: Lab Box (D'Ieteren), InvestSuite, Manual.to, Qover, Micledi, Pulsify, Pharrowtech, Zeopore

IP/IT & Innovation:

Cresco structures brand protection, corporate partnering and strategic alliance transactions, ecosystem design, R&D deals and co-ownership agreements, group IP structuring and licensing arrangements, outsourcing arrangements, and OEM agreements.

■ Co.station in the design, structuring and implementation of various sector-specific ecosystems

■ Numerous start-ups and scale-ups in their commercial collaborations with research institutions and corporates

■ Various investment funds with the analysis of the IP portfolios of target companies

Key Clients: Elia, imec, Spacewell, Flemish government, Board of Innovation, Circular Systems, Skipr, Co.station

Dispute Resolution:

Cresco advises and represents entrepreneurs and large corporates in a wide range of corporate and commercial disputes. Risk management and efficient dispute resolution in litigation or arbitration are key to the practice.

■ Former) shareholders and directors on post- acquisition claims

■ Software developers or their clients on licensing agreements and OEM agreements

■ Directors and shareholders on all matters of corporate litigation, and regarding companies in distress

■ Manufacturers and distributors on commercial disputes (agency, franchise, distribution, etc.)

■ Real estate owners on all matters of (commercial) lease, sale and purchase, etc.

■ Financial service providers and (technology) lease companies on matters relating to debt recovery and property management

■ Bio- and life science companies on matters relating to risk assessment and IP-conflict management

Real Estate:

Cresco delivers innovative, creative and practical legal services for the full spectrum of real estate needs.

■ Eoluz in drafting and negotiation of complex framework agreement for engineering, procurement and construction of PV plants

■ Flemish Government in negotiations and litigation against a public housing company

■ Belgian Government in negotiations regarding a series of lease agreements

■ Skilpod, an industry specialist in movable living and living working spaces in a financial and real estate transaction with several outside investors

■ BRIXadvice, a specialist in logistics and security solutions within production and distribution, regarding the implementation of an online platform for warehouses

Key Clients: Belgian and Flemish government, Percassi,, Eoluz, Comics Station Antwerp, MUCC, WannaWork, March, Skilpod, BRIXadvice

Complex Commercial Agreements:

By combining industry knowledge, technology acumen and strategic business expertise, Cresco assists entrepreneurs, start-ups, emerging and growth companies, on complex commercial agreements and their day-to-day business.

■ Percassi (world leader in retail development and major real estate projects) with the drafting and negotiation of complex retail agreements in city centres, shopping centres and railway stations in the Benelux

■ Septentrio with the structuring, negotiation and drafting of its standard terms in various commercial relationships

■ Spacewell with the structuring, negotiation and drafting of its standard terms in various commercial relationships

Key Clients: Percassi, Eoluz, Spacewell, Septentrio, Mensura, Board of Innovation

Corporate Venturing:

Cresco regularly represent emerging companies or corporates in structuring their nonequity and equity based corporate venturing transactions.

■ Co.station in the design, structuring and implementation of various sector-specific ecosystems

■ Corporates in the design, structuring and implementation of corporate partnering strategies

■ Numerous start-ups and scale-ups in their commercial collaborations with research institutions and corporates

Key Clients: KBC Group, Elia, Lineas, Orsi, 9.5 Magnitude Ventures, imec.xpand