Michiel Visser

MICHIEL VISSER regularly represents sovereign wealth funds, family offices, private equity funds, and corporations on mergers, divestitures, acquisitions, joint ventures, equity co-investments, restructurings, business combinations, corporate governance, and other complex corporate matters. Dual qualified in New York and England, Michiel has nearly 20 years of experience advising on cross-border matters, with a particular focus on in- and outbound transactions involving the Middle East.

He has been consistently recognized by Chambers Global since 2014, most recently for Corporate/M&A in the USA (Foreign Expert, 2019–2025) and for Corporate/Commercial in Qatar (Expertise Based Abroad, 2019–2025). Clients in the 2024 edition of Chambers praised Michiel for being “very commercially astute and proactive” and an “awesome lawyer who is very responsive and on top of details on complex corporate transactions. He is very client-oriented and great to work with.” Michiel also has been ranked as a “Leading Lawyer” for M&A in the United States by Euromoney (2021), as “Highly Regarded” by IFLR 1000 (2023–2025), and as a “Leading Individual” by Legal 500 (2022).

Michiel has significant experience advising clients across a wide range of industries and verticals, including notable transactions in sports, media and entertainment, aerospace, shipping, healthcare, retail, hospitality, infrastructure, industrials, and energy.

Michiel’s recent experience includes advising:

• Tahweel Integrated Company, a Saudi Arabian leader in the cast pallet-wrap stretch film market known for delivering tailored industrial solutions across Asia and Europe, on its SAR 3 billion business combination with Nile Investment Limited.
• Heritage Advisors, a London based venture capital and investment management company, on its investment in Fort Partners, a privately held Miami-based real estate and hospitality firm that develops and manages design-led hotels, resorts, and private residences in prime locations in the U.S., Caribbean, and Europe.
• Professional Fighters League (PFL) in the sale of a minority ownership stake to SRJ Sports Investments, the sports-focused fund recently launched by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
• Gradiant, a Boston-headquartered water company, on a number of acquisitions in the Middle East.
• Qatar Holding LLC on its investment in Fanatics Holdings, Inc., one of the fastest-growing sports e-commerce businesses in the U.S., as part of Fanatics’ US$1.5 billion funding round.
• Certares, a New York-based private equity fund, on a number of transactions in the tourism and hospitality sectors, including its investment in Nirvana Travel & Tourism, a leading travel management company in the Middle East, and its investment in Umrahme, an online travel agency operating through offices in Jeddah, Dubai, Pune and Cairo, that assists international travelers to complete religious journeys.
• A financial investor in its participation in the acquisition of a majority interest in Medline Industries, Inc. by a consortium including Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman.
• Ooredoo Group, a leading international telecommunications company, on the US$6 billion merger of its Indonesian subsidiary Indosat Ooredoowith PT Hutchison 3 Indonesia (H3I), an Indonesian subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd.
• Qatar Holding LLC, an affiliate of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar, on its investment in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV, one of Africa’s leading mobile money businesses.
• United Arab Chemical Carriers, an international shipping company, on its sale to United Overseas Group, pursuant to the first reverse triangular merger structured under DIFC law, which was awarded “Middle East M&A Deal of the Year 2021” by The IFLR 1000.
• A financial investor in the acquisition of a minority equity investment into a U.S.-based home healthcare business from a private equity fund.
• Novasep, a provider of services in the field of molecule production and purification for the life science and chemical industries, on the sale of its chromatography process equipment division to the Sartorius Group.
• A leading private equity firm focused on infrastructure investments, on its US$1.25 billion acquisition of the U.S. district energy business.
• United Arab Shipping Company, a global container shipping business, on its US$12.5 billion business combination with publicly listed German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd, which was awarded “Middle East M&A Deal of the Year” by The Banker (2018), “Transaction of the Year” by M&A Advisor (2018), “Deal of The Year” at the Lloyd’s List Global Awards (2017).
• An international investor on its participation as co-investor in a consortium led by Tencent Holdings Ltd. and its affiliate Tencent Music Entertainment Group (NYSE: TME) in the acquisition of a 20% stake in Universal Music Group from Vivendi S.A. for an aggregate purchase price of EUR 6 billion.
• A London-based family office on its PIPE investment in connection with the US$1.6 billion deSPAC business combination of Hims, Inc. with Oaktree Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: OAC).
• Qatar Investment Authority on its acquisition of a significant stake in Oryx Midstream Services, the largest privately held midstream crude operator in the Permian Basin, from an affiliate of Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners in a US$550 million transaction.
• Qatar Energy on the integration of its subsidiaries Qatar Gas and Ras Gas, a merger that created the largest LNG company in the world.
• Qatar Energy on the IPO of Qatar Aluminum Manufacturing Company, which owns a 50% stake in Qatalum, a joint venture between QP and Norwegian company, Hydro.
• Kingdom Holding of Saudi Arabia and Qatar Investment Authority on the US$2.9 billion sale of their interest in Fairmont-Raffles, the global luxury hotel operator, to French publicly listed Accor SA.
• International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, on its subscription for 23% of the shares of UNIT Investment NV, a developer of power plants across Turkey, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, in a transaction that raised US$365 million for UNIT, and IFC’s subsequent exit from this investment.
• Katara Hospitality in its acquisition of the InterContinental Carlton Cannes, the InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam, the InterContinental Madrid, and the InterContinental Frankfurt.
• Nordic Capital in connection with its US$4.1 billion acquisition of the ConvaTec division of Bristol-Myers Squibb.
• Royal Ahold, the supermarket operator, on its US$7.1 billion sale of broad-line food distributor US Foodservice to an affiliate of private equity firms Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts & Co., and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice; and on its US$310 million sale of the Tops supermarkets.

Some of the above matters were handled prior to joining Sidley.

Prior to joining Sidley, Michiel was a partner at another global elite law firm.

He serves on the board of the Netherland-America Foundation, the leading bilateral non-profit initiating and supporting high-impact exchange between the Netherlands and the United States.

Michiel is a member of the Board of Directors of the Netherland-America Foundation as Secretary, member of its Executive Committee, and member of the Friends Fund subcommittee.