Clairfield International FAQs
Clairfield International is a global corporate finance and M&A advisory partnership focused on the midmarket. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Europe, the partnership operates in 34 countries with around 500 professionals, advising family businesses, multinational corporations, public sector clients and financial investors on mergers, acquisitions, and disposals.
Clairfield was founded by five partner firms in Europe and the United States who saw an opportunity to give midmarket companies the standard of advice that larger companies receive, particularly where international buyers are involved. The partnership has since expanded across Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.
Clairfield advises owners, boards, and investors on the sale and acquisition of midmarket companies. Around 80% of these transactions are crossborder. Services cover mergers and acquisitions, debt and capital advisory, valuations and strategic advisory, family business advisory, recovery and restructuring, and private equity advisory. Advisors work on both buyside and sellside mandates.
A typical engagement runs from initial strategic assessment through preparation, buyer or target identification, negotiation and due diligence, to completion. Clairfield deploys senior advisors on each mandate, and sector specialists from other Clairfield offices join the team on crossborder mandates.
Clairfield has offices in 34 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. Locations include Amsterdam, Antwerp, Atlanta, Bangkok, Barcelona, Berlin, Brisbane, Brussels, Bucharest, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Madrid, Mexico City, Milan, Montreal, Mumbai, Munich, New York, Paris, Prague, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Toronto, Vienna, Warsaw, and Zurich.
Every office has advisors with local market knowledge, working under a shared methodology, and quality standard. Clients work with their local team and gain access to buyers, investors, and sector expertise across the whole partnership.
Clairfield focuses on midmarket transactions, typically with enterprise values between EUR 20 million and EUR 500 million. The partnership also advises on smaller transactions where there is a strong sector or crossborder rationale, and on larger transactions for existing clients. Fit depends on complexity, international reach, and the strategic importance of the transaction to the owner, as well as headline value.
Clairfield organises its expertise around six sector groups: business services; consumer goods and retail; energy, cleantech and resources; healthcare; industrials; and technology, software and digital. Each group pools specialists from across the partnership, supported by senior advisors drawn from industry. Sector teams work across borders, so for example, a client selling an industrials business in one country works with advisors who have transacted in that subsector elsewhere.
Clairfield advises three main client groups: family and founder-led businesses considering a sale, succession, or growth capital; corporations making acquisitions or divesting non-core divisions; and private equity funds and financial investors on acquisitions, exits, and portfolio company transactions. Clairfield also advises public sector clients.
Many client relationships span multiple transactions over years, often beginning with a valuation or strategic review long before a sale process starts. Family businesses work with Clairfield through a full ownership transition. On the buyside we work on structured acquisition processes with a high conversion rate to facilitate growth, platform and buy & build strategies
Clairfield is a partnership of independent corporate finance firms operating under a single brand, founded in 2004 and headquartered in Geneva. Partner firms are shareholders, which aligns them commercially and provides in depth central services to the whole partnership.
Some partner firms operate under a co-branded identity in their home market, including Saxenhammer, Clairfield’s partner in Germany; EQUITA Mid Cap Advisory, Clairfield’s partner in Italy; and Patria Corporate Finance, Clairfield’s partner in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Yamada Consulting Group, Clairfield’s exclusive partner in Japan and China, joined in 2020 and acquired a 10% shareholding in 2025
Over the past five years the partnership has closed around 1,500 transactions with a cumulative value of approximately EUR 56 billion. Volume has grown from 15 transactions worth EUR 156 million in 2004. Clairfield ranks in the top twenty financial advisors in Europe by number of announced midmarket deals, with top ten placings in several regional and smaller transaction tables.
Clairfield sits between the large multi-service firms and single-country boutiques. It offers international reach with senior-level attention on every mandate. Partners lead execution personally, and the partnership structure means colleagues in other countries have a direct commercial stake in the outcome of a crossborder transaction.
Clairfield partners own their businesses, which keeps advice independent and aligned with the client. For a midmarket owner, this means access to international buyers and sector knowledge usually offered only to larger companies, delivered by a team that stays close to the transaction throughout.
