Legal Counsel M&A

Job content

Summary

We are looking for a Legal Counsel with at least 5 years of relevant working experience as a Legal M&A professional in an international law firm and/or in an international company.

We expect an excellent knowledge of English, combined with knowledge of Dutch or French; other languages is a plus.

The position is based in VPK’s head office in Aalst.

VPK Group is a strongly growing international group with more than 65 production sites spread across some 20 countries worldwide. Internationally the group employs some 6,200 people and it has a global annual turnover of €1.5 billion. Recent years, a significant part of the growth has been realised through a very pro-active approach towards acquisitions. As part of its growth strategy VPK wants to keep on being very active on the M&A market.

VPK Group operates through four different divisions: Paper, Corrugated Packaging, Solid Board Packaging, and Cores & Edge Protectors. The group houses the central services for these divisions from its head office in Aalst. Visit us at https://www.vpkgroup.com/be-en.

Position description

· you are the lead legal business partner for all legal work relating to the M&A activities of the VPK Group, and in close collaboration with executive management you participate in negotiations, provide general legal advice, draft agreements, engage, instruct and manage outside counsel and in general manage the M&A transactions from a legal support perspective;

· you will support corporate restructurings, optimizations and carve outs needed to implement the integration of acquisitions;

· on M&A transactions and restructurings, you work in close collaboration with the Finance department and group CFO & CEO and assist in obtaining, reviewing and implementing tax advices from external experts;

· you further develop the Legal M&A function within the legal department, building on past practice and experience, by creating tools and templates for due diligence, contracts, signing-to-closing and post-closing integration.

Profile

Technical skills:

· master degree in Law ( European qualified lawyer);

· Minimum 5 years of demonstrated experience as a Legal M&A professional in an international law firm and/or in an international company;

· Capability to understand and negotiate commercial and non-legal issues as well as purely legal corporate issues;

· project management experience;

· ability to coordinate and manage outside advisors and consultants

· fluent in English and Dutch or French; knowledge of other languages is a plus;

· the ability to interact with executive management but also to coordinate projects with the other functional players within VPK’s organisation: Finance, ICT, HR, Tax and Operations.

Soft skills:

· Good drafting and communications skills;

· strong negotiating skills;

· strong team spirit with a “getting the deal done attitude”;

· business minded;

· flexible & proactive;

· stress resilient;

· pragmatic, risk aware and capable to take initiatives and autonomously make risk management judgment calls;

Offer

VPK offers a motivating and competitive remuneration package, in accordance with your experience and competences.

You will be working in the Group legal team consisting out of 4 in-house lawyers.

You will be based in the headquarters of the VPK group in Aalst