Clairfield International 2025: a year of client success

2025 was a year defined by client success for Clairfield International. We advised over 200 companies at pivotal moments in their ownership, strategy, and growth journeys, across a wide range of industries and markets. These success stories include founder exits, corporate carveouts, crossborder acquisitions, and M&A involving local champions.

Together with Clairfield’s expansion in key markets in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, these results led to top rankings in industry league tables for our worldwide performance in small- and mid-cap global M&A.

Clairfield remains a trusted partner for companies pursuing midmarket transactions. Our 2025 deal highlights span industries and geographies, showcasing our strength across borders. Clairfield’s cumulative deal value exceeded EUR 11 billion for the full year.

These deals, among many others, earned Clairfield top-five, top-ten, and top-20 placements in the league tables. We are proud to be ranked among the leading financial advisors globally, reflecting the trust clients place in us across sectors and regions.

In 2025, Clairfield also integrated new teams in Finland, Spain, Germany, and China. These additions strengthened our sector expertise, local market coverage, and crossborder execution capabilities. With these new offices, Clairfield now operates across 34 countries worldwide.

Clairfield’s global meeting in Tokyo brought together our international partnership in a client-facing setting with Yamada Consulting Group as host. The event introduced Yamada’s international advisory capabilities to Japanese clients, showcased Clairfield’s ability to deliver coordinated crossborder advice across APAC and beyond, and provided the setting to announce Yamada Consulting Group as Clairfield’s official partner for China. This level of integrated regional and global reach is unique in the middle market.

Developing the next generation of dealmakers remains a priority for Clairfield. In 2025, the Clairfield Academy Structured Training programme took place in Copenhagen and Prague. The programme builds technical, commercial, and crossborder capabilities across the partnership to ensure consistent service quality for clients worldwide. The next workshops are planned for Barcelona and Munich.

“Last year was marked by extreme ups and downs in geopolitical and economic news. Some people like certainty in strategic matters; others prefer market volatility, as it may signal opportunities. It is fair to say there was a sense of apprehension, but the final numbers point to a reasonably good year for our industry. Global deal value was up about 10% year-on-year for 2025, skewed by a few multi-billion-dollar deals, particularly in the US, but the number of deals has been lower, not matching previous highs.”

Alexander Klemm, chair of Clairfield International

“The German M&A market in 2025 stabilised, but it remained disciplined. Activity was up compared to the previous year, while buyers continue to be selective and highly focused on quality, structure, and financing resilience. Our current transactions show that deals continue to get done when there is a clear strategic rationale and proper preparation on both sides. Well-prepared buyers are still able to move decisively for scarce, scalable platforms. Our Top 2 ranking in Germany reflects our transaction activity in 2025 and our broad on-the-ground presence across the German market.”

Christian Saxenhammer, partner at Clairfield in Germany

“Argentina is going through a major transformation, moving away from protectionism and opening up its economy. Maybe not with a perfectly clear roadmap, but with very clear objectives. As in any big shift, some companies are doing very well, while others are struggling.

We are seeing new investors, both local and foreign, excited about doing business here, while others are restructuring their operations and finances. That is where we come in: helping some companies get ready for transactions and stepping in to rescue others, like Molino Cañuelas, where we led the largest private-sector financial restructuring in Argentina’s history (US$1.5 billion).

Having more than 35 years of leadership in financing services really matters in a market like this.”

Miguel Ángel Arrigoni, partner at Clairfield in Argentina