Category: General

The bears made their presence known in the M&A market in 2023. Despite this, Advior Members successfully closed around 100 deals, falling short of the record set in 2022 with 152 M&A transactions. This trend was in line with the overall state of the M&A market, which faced challenges stemming from a difficult macroeconomic environment characterized by high inflation, elevated capital costs, and persistent supply chain disruptions amidst geopolitical conflicts such as the war in Ukraine and the aftermath of the terrorist attack of October 7 in Israel.

However, there are positive signs emerging, particularly in specific sectors where M&A activity has remained resilient. Advior anticipates increased deal activity in 2024, has continued its network expansion and will be announcing its cornerstone Member in the US in the next weeks.

For more information on selected deal activity and the combined track record of the Members of Advior International, please download our Dealbook 2023.

Looking at our Members’ reports from their geographies one can discern some divergence in local M&A market developments, e.g. while the Danish market has retained its momentum, we see that in France the market saw a drop by almost 30% in M&A value for the first six months of 2023 year-on-year. This is due to a notable moderation in the large deal segment and in the private equity and venture capital activity. Although dry-powder remains on record levels, private equity players are more selective in terms of larger transactions. Corporates are expected to remain active across the deal size spectrum.

For more information, please access the Advior International-Dealbook 1H-2023

While 2022 marked a record year for Advior International and Members are still working on a robust pipeline of deals, it appears that deals take significantly longer to cross the finish line. According to our Members, this is partly due to diverging seller and buyer expectations on valuation. Also, due diligence exercises take longer to complete and transaction financing
is harder to come by as banks and other lenders have been dealing with a larger backlog of transactions and sometimes adopting a portfolio first approach thereby also reducing financial sponsor activity, all of which set against the backdrop of rising interest rates.

Our Members remain cautiously optimistic for 2023 as they expect relatively higher M&A activity levels in TMT, Healthcare, and Energy, with activity in other sectors being more muted. In our current Q1-2023 Dealbook, we introduce our DACH & CEE Members, DZ Bank AG (GER), Raiffeisen Bank International (AUT & CEE), and Raiffeisen Switzerland (SUI) in a short profile and take a closer look at their M&A teams and their strong, combined track record.

For more information, please access the Advior International-Dealbook Q1 2023.

With 148 deals closed among Member firms, the year 2022 was a record year for Advior International. The number of cross-border transactions successfully executed reached an alltime high at 52 transactions for the year (+21% yoy). Serving as a testament to the quality of our network Members, RBI Turkey received the mergermarket® Advisor of the Year Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the industry as they ranked as the leading advisor in both number and total value of transactions in Turkey. We congratulate the team around Gokce Kabatepe, Managing Director at Raiffeisen Investment.

For more information around our activities across sector please see the Advior International Dealbook 2022.

While 2021 was a stellar year for Advior International, the first half of 2022 was again the best in history in a (still) very strong M&A market.
Major headwinds such as increasing interest rates, soaring inflation, supply chain challenges, and the war in Ukraine have contributed to an overall decline in observed valuation levels across multiple sectors. Despite this, our Members are working off robust deal pipelines.

We are publishing our Dealbook 1H 2022 to reflect on the hard work, our achievements of the year so far, to highlight our cross-border track record, and to reflect on the key trends in the markets which will drive deal activities across our sectors over the coming months.

ADVIOR International_Dealbook 1H-2022

Experiencing Finland’s finest!

Last week, a senior delegation of our Members came together in Helsinki for the Advior International Conference. During this semi-annual event, we share valuable industry knowledge, market trends, and discuss future challenges and opportunities.
Members engaged in constructive one-on-one meeting sessions, discussing cross-border deals and prospects across geographies. On the second day, we discussed strategy and the further expansion of our network across the globe.

Each conference takes place in one of the members’ HQ cities, where business and pleasure meet each other. We like to thank Sisu Partners for their kind hospitality and fantastic program, including a boat trip to Suomenlinna (part of the UNESCO World Heritage List) and a spectacular evening program.

We look back on a record year 2021 and are proud to execute on a strong deal pipeline for 2022. Now, fueled with Finnish optimism, our Members can continue delivering unmatched cross-border M&A and Corporate Finance services, based on our ever stronger bedrock: Advior International.

2021 was a stellar year for Advior International.
Members helped clients capitalize on a very strong transaction environment. A broad range of industries has been under the impression of dynamic, even disruptive market developments. This has put M&A at the very top of the strategic toolkit of many mid-market companies across geographies. We are also very proud that our exclusive Spanish Member, AZ Capital, was recently received the prestigious mergermarket award Iberia Financial Advisor of the Year.

We are publishing our Dealbook 2021 to reflect on the hard work, our achievements of the past year which have added to our cross-border track record, and to reflect on the key trends in the markets which will drive deal activities across our sectors.

Advior International Dealbook 2021

We are pleased to announce that AZ Capital, our exclusive Spanish Member in Advior International, has been elected as the leader in advising on mergers and acquisitions in Spain and Portugal. The Mergermarket platform has awarded AZ Capital the Iberia M&A Financial Advisor of the Year award – representing the immense trust that AZ Capital clients place in the firm every year. This award honors the effort and professionalism of each of the people who make up AZ Capital and reflects what we strive for at Advior International.

Congratulations to AZ Capital from the Members of Advior International!

From left to right: Martin Petsch (DZ BANK), Michael Ahlburg Tybring (ATRIUM Partners), Greg Tzanakakis (Advior International), Alex Cassani (Raiffeisen Switzerland), Carlos França (Optimal Investments), Miguel Andrade Santos (Optimal Investments), Jorge Tomé (Optimal Investments), Paul Staples (Smith Square Partners), Miguel Ferreira (Optimal Investments), Eddy Verbrugge (SDM-Valorum), Paul Le Clerc (Wagram Corporate Finance)

Draft for immediate release December 1, 2021

Lisbon – Following the successful expansion in Spain, Italy, Norway, Austria and Central Eastern Europe, Advior International (“Advior”) is very proud to welcome Optimal Investments (“Optimal”) as its newest Member (effective November 12, 2021) to what has become the leading M&A network in Europe.
With the addition of Optimal, Advior adds to its ranks a leading independent Corporate Finance firm. Optimal was founded in 2016 by former CEOs of large banking institutions (Banif Banco Internacional do Funchal, Banif – Banco de Investimento, Caixa Banco de Investimento, Banif Capital, Banco Espírito Santo de Investimento). The team of 12 professionals has executed more than 150 transactions among which Portugal’s most prominent cross-border M&A deals of the last decade.

Jorge Tomé, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Optimal, adds: “We had previously worked with AZ Capital, the exclusive Spanish Member of Advior, and one of the TOP 10 Iberian advisory firms – so we already had an initial flavor of what Advior stands for. From a cultural perspective and from AZ Capital’s dedication to transactional excellence we felt that Advior could very well be a very good fit to our firm and the values we cherish.” Miguel Ferreira, Director of Optimal, believes that “You do not need to be an integrated international Corporate Finance firm when you can rely on your well-functioning network of deal-hardened advisors. At Advior, Members leverage on each other’s networks to their clients’ benefit.” Carlos França, Director of Optimal, adds: “For Portuguese clients it is important that their advisor has a credible international reach, especially as we are talking about an inbound M&A market in terms of cross-border deals. What is also interesting for Advior is that Optimal can take on the bridgehead function into the very active Brazilian market where we have seen a dealmaking boom led by energy, mining, utilities, healthcare, financial services, and consumer sectors.”
Birgit Meyer zu Selhausen, Co-Head of M&A at DZ BANK AG and Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of Advior points out: ”Now we have completed our Iberian coverage in a meaningful way. Expanding the network always requires extra effort from all Members and that we were able to do this despite the fact that everybody is extremely busy in this very hot market shows what Advior is all about. Everybody was willing to put in the extra effort and it is certainly worth it.” Gregory Tzanakakis, Managing Director and Global Coordinator of Advior adds: “Optimal approached us backed by a strong recommendation from AZ Capital and the fit to Advior was immediately evident based on Optimal’s qualities in terms of senior connectivity, deal flow, and firm culture. Advior is diligent when onboarding new Members as we are serious about maintaining our position as the leading international M&A network. In fact, it is not so much about adding a geography, it is about adding the right people.” A very warm welcome for Optimal Investments to the Advior International family.

Optimal Investments’ Partners:
Jorge Tomé (Co-founder & Managing Partner)
Luís Paulo Tenente (Co-founder & Partner)
José Maria Ricciardi (Managing Partner)
António Simões (Partner)

PRESS RELEASE

*DRAFT, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

The board of Advior International is pleased to announce today the rebranding of the group previously known as the MidCap Alliance. The launch of the new brand recognises the commitment of members to significantly enhanced cooperation and integration as they build on their successful track record of advising on cross border M&A transactions.

Advior International is a network of leading mid and upper mid-market M&A advisory firms. It has 31 offices in Austria, Belgium, Central and Eastern Europe, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and has two associate members in the US and India. The Advior team numbers some 220 M&A professionals, including several former CEOs and a significant number of senior bankers from the markets the organisation serves.

Since its formation in 2002 Advior’s members have advised on more than 1,200 M&A transactions with a total value of more than €250 billion making it a major force in Investment Banking, particularly in Europe. In 2020 Advior’s members advised on 100 M&A transactions with a value of €28 billion including several landmark cross border deals (see selected transactions on the following page).

The rebranding marks a new chapter in the development of the network and reflects more accurately the defining characteristics of the group. Members have always prided themselves on senior relationship driven board room access, a partner-led boutique style operating model and a genuinely international outlook to business. The group’s new identity underpins and reinforces these values.

Advior International: beyond borders.

Please see our press release here