Corporate finance house reports successful year
Corporate finance house Clearwater International, which has offices in Birmingham and Nottingham, completed 129 M&A and 51 debt advisory transactions worth over €13.1bn during 2022.
The firm says this performance will result in a “successful” financial year.
Clearwater invested significantly in senior talent during 2022, growing partner numbers by 15% both through external appointments and internal promotions.
Clearwater’s debt advisory team is now one of the largest in Europe, with a headcount approaching 40, including 10 partners.
Industrials & chemicals, business services, and TMT remained buoyant sectors for Clearwater in 2022, with the consumer sector performing well against a more difficult market backdrop. Industrials & chemicals transactions made up almost 30% of transactions in 2022 worth €5.4bn in deal value and €2.2bn of debt raised in the sector.
Business services continued to be a hot sector for Clearwater making up 21% of completed transactions, closely followed by TMT where overall deal value reached €1.8bn. Debt advisory worked closely with the consumer sector team raising over €1bn in debt during 2022 with the sector team completing a total of 19 M&A and debt advisory transactions.
Cross-border transactions made up 33% of all transactions in 2022 as Clearwater’s European teams continued to source overseas investors for its clients.
Clearwater’s work with private equity (PE) has remained abundant throughout 2022, placing Clearwater in eighth place in the Mergermarket European M&A league table, by number of PE exits advised on.
Clearwater worked with over 80 PE funds during 2022, securing 60 PE buyouts and 30 PE exits during the year.
Julian Brown, CEO of Clearwater International, said: “The geopolitical and economic landscape changed substantially throughout 2022 as the post-COVID economic bounce gave way to energy, inflation and cost of living crises. The only constant were the two greatest nemeses of M&A activity, rising interest rates and economic uncertainty. At Clearwater, we held our nerve, steadied our clients, and seized the opportunities presented by market conditions to continue to
grow our business.
It’s a testament to the strength of our culture, expertise, and brand across Europe that we will perform ahead of market in our current fiscal year and enter the next with our strongest ever pipeline and a team motivated by the knowledge that we will stand by them as well as our clients.”
