Clearwater dives into international deals
Clearwater, the Birmingham-based corporate finance company, has advised on five cross-border deals in seven months. The firm said they were due to international buyers “becoming increasingly active”.
Clearwater is the UK arm of international mergers and acquisitions network IMAP.
The deal activity was revealed in IMAP’s 2010 annual report, which provides a mid-year update on M&A activity in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia. Internationally, IMAP’s advisers completed 179 transactions in 2009, and opened offices in Spain, Japan and India.
The deals advised on by Clearwater in the last seven months include the sale of Danish cleaning supplies and equipment specialist Clean Care A/S to global outsourcing group Bunzl, Swiss cosmetics manufacturer Mibelle AG’s acquisition of a majority stake in Bradford-based Hallam Beauty, and the sale of TAM International, the construction chemicals division of Coventry-based Norman Hay, to underground construction manufacturer Normet Group.
The report suggests that parts of Europe are showing signs of recovery in the M&A market, but other nations “expect the sluggish economy to continue for the time being”. The report said that Nordic and Eastern European regions appear to have rebounded faster than the economies of the UK, Germany and France.
