Jean-Pierre Blumberg receives chair at the University of Antwerp
On Monday, the University of Antwerp (UA) inaugurated the ‘Jean-Pierre Blumberg’ chair, named after the top lawyer and dealmaker who passed away last year.
Jean-Pierre Blumberg was uncontournable in the Belgian business world. As a partner at Linklaters, he advised numerous companies on IPOs, mergers and acquisitions. He sat at the table when KBC and Almanij merged, when Omega Pharma left the stock exchange and Belgacom (now Proximus), Bpost and the chip specialist X-Fab went public. He also acted in the takeover bid for DocPharma, Arinso of Remi Claeys Aluminum and was instrumental in the rescue of KBC in 2008-2009.
Last year he battled cancer after another year. As a designation to the business lawyer and music enthusiast, and to honor his legacy, his family, Linklaters – where he taught on the German legal system – created a new chair to bear his name.
The target? Insights into law, economics, business and women’s governance (corporate governance). And through research and master classes stimulate the social debate about governance.
the master classes Tom Vos (doctorate in company law at KU Leuven and guest professor at the University of Antwerp) and will address the following theme, among other things: ‘How strong governance can contribute to the long-term vision and how to counter the negative elements of short-term thinking’.
The chair is supported by the Blumberg family, Linklaters and the UA, but also by private individuals such as Dominique Moorkens and companies for which Blumberg worked or where he was a director: Bank Delen, Domo, Intervest, Linklaters, TINC, Umicore and Vastned. The chair is still open to other partners.