Team, founder and attorney at law
Jordi Wals
Jordi advises investors, entrepreneurs and companies on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructurings and corporate governance matters.
He began his career in 2011 at Linklaters, practising corporate law, mergers and acquisitions and capital markets, and was seconded to the firm's Madrid office in 2016 to coordinate a multi-jurisdictional distressed M&A transaction. In 2018 he co-founded a boutique corporate and M&A practice with a former Linklaters colleague, and worked on a project basis as legal lead on transactions for large corporates, including ASML and LeasePlan Corporation, now Ayvens, and VodafoneZiggo.
He returned to international practice in 2021 at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Amsterdam, working on complex domestic and cross-border M&A transactions and joint ventures with a particular focus on infrastructure and energy transition, alongside corporate governance and general corporate advisory work for listed and unlisted companies. In April 2025 he joined the corporate and M&A practice of Yspeert advocaten as a partner, focusing on the mid-market, and subsequently decided to continue that practice independently, founding the firm in February 2026.
The practice is built on that range: the standards of an international firm, the perspective of someone who has sat on the client side of the instruction, and the economics of a boutique. It shows in the client base as well. Jordi acts for international groups and their Dutch subsidiaries, many of them from relationships built earlier in his practice, and as readily for Dutch national and regional businesses and their owners. Alongside transactional work he advises regularly on board responsibilities, shareholder relations and general corporate matters outside a transaction.
Jordi is an attorney at law (advocaat), registered with the Orde van Advocaten in the district of Amsterdam and in the register of legal practice areas for corporate law (ondernemingsrecht).
Experience
Selected transactions.
Before founding the firm, Jordi was involved in matters including advising:
- 01A European energy and technical services group on a range of matters, including the sale of a leading provider of end-to-end ATES solutions for households and businesses in the Netherlands to a Dutch energy company, the sale of a geothermal energy developer and producer and the proposed sale of an electric vehicle charging business in the Netherlands.
- 02An infrastructure fund on the sale of one of the Netherlands' largest wholesale open-access fibre broadband network operators to a pan-European digital infrastructure platform.
- 03An international services group on a series of acquisitions in the Netherlands and a number of other countries.
- 04A Dutch family office on setting up the acquisition structure for its buy-and-build strategy in the healthcare sector and on a series of such acquisitions.
- 05A Dutch media group on the sale of its puzzle and braintainment activities.
- 06A Swedish security technology company on the acquisition of its principal distributor in the Netherlands.
- 07A British petrol station operator on the acquisition of an operator in the Netherlands.
- 08A German agricultural company on the acquisition of an interest in a Dutch importer of agricultural machinery.
- 09A Belgian media group on its public takeover bid for the largest Dutch media group.
- 10The underwriters on the re-IPO of a Dutch financial institution.
- 11A Japanese conglomerate on its public takeover bid for a Dutch staffing company.
- 12A listed international retail group and its e-commerce subsidiary on the acquisition of a majority stake in a last-mile delivery specialist, followed by the acquisition of the remaining minority interest.
- 13A global food group on the acquisition of a Netherlands-based producer of frozen food products.
- 14A regulated mortgage lender on the acquisition of a residential mortgage loan portfolio from a Dutch financial institution.
- 15An infrastructure investment fund on the acquisition and subsequent combination of three airport ground services equipment rental and services businesses operating in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
- 16The founder of a digital signage company on a minority investment by a private equity firm and the combination with an existing portfolio company.
Education
Academic background.
Jordi studied law at Leiden University, taking a Bachelor of Laws in 2009 and a Master of Laws in 2011 with a specialisation in company law (specialisatie ondernemingsrecht). He completed the professional training for Dutch attorneys at law at the Law Firm School between 2011 and 2012.
Languages
Dutch, English and Spanish.
Jordi is a native Dutch speaker with full professional proficiency in English, and he works in both languages as a matter of course. He also speaks Spanish and has a basic command of German, Italian and Catalan.