David Jansen is a partner in the firm’s Corporate & Financial Services and Asset Management Departments. He advises across the full asset management value chain, with a practice that spans asset managers, intermediaries and distributors, market infrastructure providers, and institutional investors. David combines deep sector knowledge with transactional and regulatory experience, guiding clients on complex M&A in the financial sector, including strategic acquisitions and disposals of portfolio management companies, joint ventures and carve-outs, post-merger integration of regulated platforms, and cross-border licensing and control-change approvals. He has assisted several of the world’s largest asset managers on transformational transactions and operating model realignments, bringing a pragmatic understanding of market norms, supervisory expectations, and execution dynamics.
David’s regulatory practice covers the full spectrum of banking, insurance, and asset management regulation, with particular focus on AIFMD/UCITS governance and distribution, outsourcing and delegation frameworks, depositary and custody arrangements, trading venue access and market infrastructure questions, and MiFID II conduct, product governance, and third-country access. He regularly counsels on the structuring, formation, and launch of investment funds addressing authorization pathways, cross-border marketing, and ongoing compliance. He also advises institutional investors, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals on investment management mandates, co-investments, seeding arrangements, managed account platforms, and governance and fee economics.
David advises on digital assets and adjacent infrastructure, including tokenization, custody, and trading solutions, and the associated regulatory frameworks across the EU and Germany. His work encompasses licensing analysis, product structuring, custody and safeguarding models, and risk and control design for digital asset businesses, as well as the impact of emerging EU regulatory regimes on market participants and service providers.
David is an experienced advocate before supervisory authorities, and he regularly represents clients in complex supervisory reviews, enforcement-facing engagements, remediation programs, and negotiated outcomes. He is known for resolute and effective negotiations in high-stakes settings, including authorization and passporting processes, change-of-control approvals, thematic reviews, and remediation commitments.
Experience
Prior to joining Willkie, David was an attorney at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
His experience includes the following representative matters:
- NÜRNBERGER in its business combination agreement with Vienna Insurance Group
- Bantleon AG on the acquisition of Warburg Invest AG
- The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. on its acquisition of NN Investment Partners from NN Group N.V.*
- Deutsche Bank AG on the reorganisation of its asset management business and the IPO of DWS*
- Viridium Group GmbH & Co. KG on the development of a multinational fund platform for direct lending investments*
- Zurich Group Germany on the extension of its strategic partnership with DWS Group in the unit-linked retail business in Germany*
- Cinven on the acquisition of Generali Lebensversicherung AG (now Proxalto Lebensversicherung AG)*
- London Stock Exchange Group plc on its planned merger of equals with Deutsche Börse AG*
- PATRIZIA Immobilien AG on the acquisition of Triuva from IVG*
- Various asset managers on a variety of matters such as the domestic and cross-border distribution, negotiation and conclusion of material outsourcing agreements and the structuring of investment funds for institutional and retail investors.
*David advised on these matters prior to joining Willkie.
Credentials
Education
Universität Münster, Dr. jur., 2015 State of Hesse, Second State Exam, 2014 Universität Münster, First State Exam, 2010