Profile

Philip is Co-Head of NKF’s Transactions Team. He is an M&A, corporate finance and capital markets specialist with a main focus on complex investment and financing structures, restructurings and special situations. Philip regularly acts as advisor on buy- and sell-side public and private M&A transactions. Furthermore, he regularly represents lenders, borrowers and sponsors on high profile financing transactions. Philip’s practice also includes advising underwriters and issuers on all aspects of ECM and DCM transactions, including public takeovers, equity investments, block trades, IPOs, rights offerings and convertible bonds issues. In addition, he regularly acts as advisor in corporate restructurings and general corporate and commercial matters.

Experience

Philip is an M&A, corporate finance and capital markets specialist with a main focus on complex investment and financing structures, restructurings and special situations. Philip regularly acts as advisor on buy- and sell-side public and private M&A transactions. Furthermore, he regularly represents lenders, borrowers and sponsors on high profile financing transactions. Philip’s practice also includes advising underwriters and issuers on all aspects of ECM and DCM transactions, including public takeovers, equity investments, block trades, IPOs, rights offerings and convertible bonds issues. In addition, he regularly acts as advisor in corporate restructurings and general corporate and commercial matters.

Philip has a particular focus on financial institutions as well as the CG&R and healthcare industries. He is admitted to practice in Switzerland and recognized as an authorized issuer’s representative at the SIX Swiss Exchange. He has published numerous articles on corporate law and finance topics in Swiss and international commentaries and journals.

Experience highlights include advising:

  • MSC on their full acquisition of Hirslanden Group, the largest private acute care hospital group in Switzerland (2026)
  • CVC on its acquisition of Animal Nutrition & Health (ANH) from dsm-firmenich via a carve-out transaction for an enterprise value of EUR 2.2 billion (2026)
  • SF-Filter Group in the auction and subsequent sale to Swiss entrepreneurs Sara and Christoph Hürlimann (2026)
  • Georg Fischer (GF) on the divestment of aerospace and industrial gas turbine operations8 to US-based Consolidated Precision Products Corp. (2026)
  • Several investors on the USD 225m Series-A strategic investment round in Kandou AI (2026)
  • NJJ Continental S.A., the parent company of Salt Mobile SA, on the issuing of CHF 205m Senior Secured Notes due 2031 and EUR 30m tap of Senior Secured Notes due 2030 (2026)
  • Clariant on its successful return to the Eurobond market with a EUR 500m placement (2026)
  • Carlyle as Swiss counsel on their EUR 7.7bn acquisition of the Coating Business of BASF (2025)
  • Georg Fischer (GF) on the divestment of GF Casting Solutions’ automative business to Nemak S.A.B. de C.V. (2025)
  • Global Blue in connection with its agreement to be acquired by Shift4 (2025)
  • Georg Fischer (GF) on the divestment of its GF Machining Solutions division to United Grinding Group (2024)
  • The banking syndicate on a USD 3.65 billion term and revolving credit facilities agreement for Galderma (2024)
  • Glencore on its USD 75m investment into Li-Cycle via a convertible note instrument (2024)
  • SIX listed Feintool Group on the sale of Feintool Technology AG to Certina (2023)
  • The Swiss Confederation on the CHF 9 billion loss protection guarantee granted to UBS Group in connection with its merger with Credit Suisse Group (2023)
  • Oliver Healthcare Packaging on in its acquisition of EK-Pack (2023)
  • UBS and BOCI in BOCI’s issuance of CNH 200m fully digital structured notes originated by UBS (2023)
  • INEOS on the acquisition of a major concrete additives business from Sika (2023)
  • Cinven and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (“Ontario Teachers”) on their investment in the combination of group.ONE and the dogado group (2022)
  • EQT Future Fund on the acquisition of EQT VIII’s participation in SHL Medical (2022)
  • Porsche on its international initial public offering and listing on Frankfurt stock exchange (2022)
  • Stadtcasino Baden on its acquisition of a majority stake in Casinò Locarno (2022)
  • Ambienta SGR SpA on the sale of its portfolio company SF-Filter AG to funds advised by Equistone Partners Europe (2022)
  • Global Blue and Silver Lake in Global Blue’s USD 225m strategic growth equity investment from Certares and Knighthead (2022)
  • Kernkraftwerk Leibstadt AG on the placement of a CHF 200 million bond (CHF 175 million plus CHF 25 million top up) with a term to maturity of 5 years (2022)
  • UBS and Zürcher Kantonalbank on the CHF 202m rights offering of Feintool International Holding AG (2022)
  • Mobimo Holding AG on completing rights offering and listing of shares on SIX Swiss Exchange arranged by UBS and ZKB (2022)
  • Bell Food Group on the placement of a CHF 300 million bond with a term to maturity of 7 years (2022)
  • UBS Switzerland AG and an international bank syndicate in a CHF 2.8 billion financing for Stadler Rail (2022)
  • Axpo group on the issuance of a SIX Swiss Exchange listed CHF 500 million sustainability-linked bond (2022)
  • Veraison Capital and VT5 Acquisition Company on the structuring of the first Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) under Swiss law and VT5’s initial public offering at SIX Swiss Exchange (2021)*
  • UBS and Credit Suisse in a CHF 1.5 billion Government-backed financing for Swiss International Air Lines and Edelweiss Air (2020)*
  • RRJ Capital und Temasek on a several hundred million US dollars investment in leading airline caterer gategroup (2019)*
  • SIX Swiss Exchange listed Arbonia in its CHF 415 million public takeover of Looser Group (2016)*
  • *Transactions handled before joining Niederer Kraft Frey
2015 PhD in Law (Dr. iur.), University of St. Gallen
2013 Admitted to the Bar (Attorney-at-law)
2011 M.A. HSG in Law & Economics, University of St. Gallen
2009 York University (Osgoode Hall), Toronto
2008 B.A. HSG in Law & Economics, University of St. Gallen
Best Lawyers 2024 – 2027
Chambers Global 2022 – 2026
Chambers Europe 2022 – 2026
IFLR1000 2025 – Rising Star Partner
LEGAL500 EMEA 2023 – 2026: NEXT GENERATION PARTNER
Lexology Index – Switzerland 2025
IFLR1000 2024 – Rising Star Partner
Lexology Index – Switzerland 2024
Legal500 EMEA 2022: Recommended
  • HSG Alumni
  • Zurich Bar Association
  • Swiss Bar Association
2022 Partner, Niederer Kraft Frey
2018 Senior Associate with an international law firm in Switzerland
2015 Associate with an international law firm in Switzerland
2012 Legal Structurer Global Structured Securities Trading, UBS Investment Bank
2012 Research and Teaching Assistant for Corporate Law at the University of St. Gallen
2010 Junior Associate with an international law firm in Switzerland
2008 Trainee Legal Traded Products FICC, UBS Investment Bank

German

English

French

Deals & Cases

07.10.2026

Let’s Go Fitness secures refinancing

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02.10.2026

River Advice refinances existing facilities and secures long-term funding for growth initiatives

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01.10.2026

GF completes divestment of aerospace and industrial gas turbine operations

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Market Perception

«Philip Spoerlé is an extremely respected professional with longstanding relationships and an outstandingly high level of service. He always goes the extra mile and delivers outstanding products. We appreciate Philip’s extremely short turnaround times, exceptional level and quality of advice, superb ability to understand and manage complexity, and creative solutions to complex challenges.»
Chambers Global 2026 – Banking & Finance
«Philip Spoerlé is my first contact for innovative transactional work. He demonstrates the same high level of professionalism and client service that we value so much at Niederer Kraft Frey. His advice is always thoughtful, clear and to the point. He is exceptionally well connected in Switzerland and internationally.»
Chambers Global 2026 – Capital Markets
«Philip Spoerlé is a real business partner for us and we see him more as our internal lawyer than an external consultant. We get balanced answers and he gives us always the pro and cons of different scenarios that we discuss. We have a lot of trust in him and appreciate working together with him.»
Legal 500 2026 – Commercial, corporate and M&A
«Philip Spoerlé consistently goes above and beyond to provide support, always making time to offer valuable guidance no matter the complexity of the issue. He is always willing to lend a hand and share his expertise in all legal areas.»
Legal 500 2025 – Banking & Finance
«Philip Spoerlé stands out as an exceptional lawyer with remarkable proximity to the business world. His deep understanding of business processes, M&A, as well as microeconomic specifics enables him to bridge the oftenwide gap between legal advice and practical business needs.»
Legal 500 2025 – Commercial, Corporate and M&A
«Philip Spoerlé’s particular strengths that stood out were his dedication, his problem-solving skills and ability to formulate and seamlessly execute strategies, as well as his calm communication. »
Chambers Global 2025 – Banking & Finance
«Philip Spoerlé is a pragmatic, well-experienced, solution-oriented and excellent team leader. »
Chambers Global 2025 – Capital Markets
«The team around Philip Spoerle and Andrea Giger stands out for its quick and efficient handling of transactional projects. They have a lot of experience in handling complex projects and have a profound legal and commercial knowledge. Combined with a 24/7 availability on partner level, this leads to a great client experience.»
Legal 500 2024
«Both Philip Spoerle and Andrea Giger are standout lawyers – always available, impressively swift and possessing profound understanding of both commercial and legal intricacies. They approach projects with a pragmatic style, ensuring that complex issues are navigated with precision and efficiency. »
Legal 500 2024
«‘Philip Spoerlé is a very good lawyer. He was very competent, diligent and pragmatic, and he found a good solution in a short period of time’. ‘He offers in-depth expertise and efficiency, and is very structured but still pragmatic and easy to communicate with’.»
Chambers Global 2024
«Philip has excellent cooperation skills and response times and is also accurate and has a very good track record. He is experienced in capital markets transactions, offers excellent webinars and is very committed. He is also pleasant to work with and profound. I’d say he is a rising star.»
Chambers 2022

Awards & Rankings

07.04.2025

NKF wins “Impact Deal Award” at the IFLR Europe Awards 2025

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19.09.2024

NKF ranked top-tier firm in six practice areas by IFLR1000 2024

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In the Media

30.09.2026

M&A im Wandel: Wie Spezialisierung, Private Credit und KI den Transaktionsmarkt verändern

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Publications

22.11.2022

The International Capital Markets Review 12th Edition – Chapter 13: Switzerland

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