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Clearwater advises Playnation on sale to Novomatic

Clearwater outperforms in 2023 and expects improving conditions and growth in 2024

Alexandre Forget

I co-manage Clearwater's activity in the Mediterranean region, alongside Emmanuel Xerri. Following a career in large cap companies in London working for CIBC Capital Markets, I quickly moved into the small and mid-cap segment working for Degroof Petercam, CIC Conseil and then Clairfield International to advise families and shareholders on their strategic considerations. Our goal is to accompany our clients over the long term, by reconciling our technical expertise of the large cap market with tailor-made solutions which meet the specificities and challenges of SMEs. I have advised on more than 30 transactions, including the sale of Markal, a major player in organic food, to FrenchFood Capital, the sale of Laboratoire BioCasamance, a medical analysis laboratory, to Eurofins, the sale of Bio&Co, an organic distribution network, to InVivo, the acquisition of Maxicoffee, a coffee roaster and e-commerce business, by the Daltys group, BPI France and the Qatar sovereign wealth fund’s (QIA) investment in Alstef Group, an Industry 4.0 logistics solutions company, and the refinancing of laser cutting business GL Groupe and PSD, a pharmaceutical group. I am convinced that Clearwater's three-dimensional approach of sector expertise, regional proximity and international footprint is a differentiator for our clients.

Richard O'Donnell

I have been a specialist in the M&A consumer and leisure sector for 20 years and I am a Partner at Clearwater. I cut my teeth at UBS Investment Bank, as part of the team advising on large and often £1bn or above transactions across Europe. I then moved to the mid-market and have spent the last 15 years working with some of the most exciting brands in the sector, including Fever-Tree, LEON Restaurants, Fox International, LeMieux, and Goals Soccer Centres. I’ve advised on sales, acquisitions, and take-private transactions in the sector.

Emmanuel Xerri

I founded the Clearwater team in Marseilles over 20 years ago. The Mediterranean region has many up-and-coming businesses which we are ideally placed to advise given our close proximity. I started my career in the corporate finance department of PwC and then joined EY. Following this I co-developed the activities of Edmond de Rothschild in Marseille for five years. Over the years, I have supported small and medium-sized companies that have sometimes become large corporations. The diversity of the transactions I have advised on makes me a generalist, or rather a multi-specialist across various sectors including business services, healthcare, industrials, specialised distribution, and TMT. More recently, I advised on the various build-up operations as well as the primary and secondary LBOs of the Cogepart Group, the French leader in last mile delivery. I also advised Hôpital Privée La Casamance on the merger with the Almaviva group and the entry of FrenchFood Capital into Markal, a major player in the organic food sector. Today, Clearwater International is ideally positioned to accompany clients through the increasingly rapid changes in the market, remaining adaptable and utilising our sector specialists in both our French and international teams to meet client goals.

Béatrice Blanquet

I joined the Marseille team in 2014 after having worked first in strategy consulting at Booz Allen & Hamilton, then in operational functions in various environments including the automotive industry at PSA Peugeot Citroën, cell phone distribution at Avenir Telecom, and finally the banking sector at Société Marseillaise de Crédit. I have participated in several sale and external growth processes across a variety of sectors. In the healthcare sector, I advised on the sale of Hôpital Privé La Casamance to the Almaviva Group, in the food & beverage sector I advised on the sale of Confit de Provence to French Gourmet Food, and in the industrials sector, I advised on the sale of PB Environnement to the Faun Environnement Group, and the acquisition of several transport companies by the Cogepart Group. The diverse range of transactions I have been able to work on over the last few years, the specificities inherent to each sector of activity, to each company and to each manager or shareholder, makes this job exciting. Understanding our clients' expectations, building, and implementing effective solutions adapted to each specific situation is particularly important to me and makes my daily work very stimulating. I am a graduate of ESCP Business School and have a Master's degree in Strategy and Marketing from the University of Paris Dauphine.

Adviser to Playnation on its MBO supported by Palatine Private Equity

John Sheridan

I am the Managing Partner of Clearwater's Irish business. As founders of this business, John Curtin and I joined up with Clearwater in October 2015 having traded as a boutique brand known as Core Corporate Finance over the previous year. Prior to this, I was Managing Director at Key Capital Corporate Finance in Dublin, where I worked for eight years. I have 21 years’ experience as a corporate finance professional having originally qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC in 1997. At Clearwater, I lead our food & beverage team internationally. Our team in Ireland covers all sectors with a particular focus on food & beverage, TMT, industrials & chemicals and business services. The deals I am most proud of are the sale of IT services business, Version1, where we advised the shareholders on the company’s sale to private equity firm, Volpi Capital in a €90m MBO, followed recently by the sale of telecommunications engineering business, KN Group to French-based Circet. Since joining Clearwater, I try to lead by example and inspire our team to drive for excellence and high performance in everything we do. The strong results-oriented and personalised culture of our firm helps both retain and attract great talent. I enjoy working with highly ambitious entrepreneurs who are looking to develop their business internationally and use my experience gained over the past 21 years in navigating the optimal M&A process to help achieve their goals. I have completed eleven transactions over the past three years at Clearwater with a combined deal value of c. €1bn.