28/07/2017 - News
Clearwater International climbs 4 places in European rankings
In the first half of 2017 Clearwater International has climbed 4 places in the Thomson Reuters European M&A rankings table. Having announced record figures in its review of the last financial year, Clearwater International has continued to see an abundance of transactions this year. Whilst Thomson Reuters highlighted that macro-economic uncertainty has reduced by 15% across Europe, Clearwater is bucking the trend. During H1 it has ranked ahead of ahead of Morgan Stanley, Lincoln International and Grant Thornton for deals volume.Michael Reeves, CEO, Clearwater International said: “Our success so far in 2017 is down to a number of factors; the continued growth of our cross-border capabilities, along with insight into sector activity on a global scale. Our involvement with private equity continues to rise, including sell-side advisory for private equity firms; and our debt team is advising on more deals than ever. Due to this success we have expanded our team further, building on knowledge and experience, generating more opportunities.”The business is seeing a steady increase in sell-side transactions, particularly on behalf of private equity firms. The first half of the year has seen involvement from 20 different private equity firms internationally of which 10 were cross-border transactions. Clearwater recently advised the shareholders of leading engineering services company Imtech, including private equity firm Endless LLP, on the sale of the business to EDF Energy Services.Following the success of Clearwater’s debt advisory service in 2016, the team continues to grow with the addition of four new members across the international team, demonstrating the growing importance of debt advisory within the market, as the funding universe continues to become more diversified. Clearwater recently advised Arlington Industries on a c.€50m funding facility provided by Wells Fargo and Shawbrook Bank.Clearwater continues to strengthen in global markets, building longstanding partnerships outside of Europe, across the U.S., India and China. Our Chinese team recently advised Indian-based Tata Global Beverages on its sale of its holdings in Zhejiang Tata to China-based Zhejiang Tea Group Co. Ltd.Phil Burns, UK Managing Partner, Clearwater International added: “Despite all the potential for uncertainty in the UK with Brexit and the delicate government standings, we are faring better than Europe as a whole in M&A terms with overall deal volumes flat. This shows how well the UK is viewed as a great long-term place for business. Following our success of the previous financial year we’ve been able to expand our team and we are delighted to announce the appointment of our UK Chairman Andy Higginson, along with 8 additional members to the UK team.”
