Clairfield strengthens top Nordic team with new partner in Denmark
Clairfield International and MHS Corporate Finance are pleased to announce that MHS has joined Clairfield as its exclusive partner firm for Denmark. With the addition of MHS, Clairfield strengthens its top-ranked Nordic team already present in Sweden, Finland, and Norway, and consolidates its position as the leading firm for midmarket access in the Nordics, Europe, and beyond.
MHS was founded in 2011 by Martin Muff, who was joined shortly thereafter by Klaus Frandsen (both formerly at Danske Bank Corporate Finance), as an alternative to the traditional investment bank and “Big Four” corporate finance services. Currently the firm has a team of seven with three partners, including Martin, Klaus, and Peter Krabbe, who in the past have focused on highly complex large cap transactions. In addition to M&A advisory, MHS offers fairness opinions and valuations, ECM advisory, and other financial advisory services. The firm now also offers midmarket advisory and the partnership with Clairfield will enhance this practice.
Over the past twelve years, MHS has created a track record of more than 30 landmark transactions with a total value over of EUR 9 billion. Selected completed transactions include:
The acquisition of payment technology company Nets by Hellman & Friedman for EUR 4 billion.
Falck’s divestiture of its healthcare staffing division.
HMN’s divestiture of HMN GasNet for EUR 250 million.
The acquisition by EnergiNet (government of Denmark) of Ørsted Gas Distribution for EUR 310 million.
The acquisition by Gjensidige of NEM Forsikring, both in the insurance business.
The transactions show MHS’ expertise in complex transactions on behalf of large PE firms such as Hellmann & Friedman, Advent International, and Bain Capital; government entities such as ATP and EnergiNet; and large Nordic corporates such as Falck and Gjensidige. MHS works in all sectors with special expertise in financial services and energy.
“Denmark is traditionally a small open economy with significant crossborder potential in other Nordic countries and farther afield,” says MHS founding partner Martin Muff. “Our historical focus has been on larger transactions, and we are keen to expand our midmarket reach. In recent years, Danish players are becoming more reluctant to hire banks for corporate finance advisory, and prefer boutiques such as ours, where they are guaranteed senior attention and independent advice. There are many opportunities in Denmark that we look forward to sharing with our new Clairfield colleagues and we know they will share global midmarket access and sector expertise.”
“We are pleased to complete our Nordic coverage with our new partners in Copenhagen,” says Alexander Klemm, executive chairman of Clairfield International. “We are impressed with the knowledge and expertise in complex transactions that MHS brings to our partnership. Martin, Peter, and Klaus are very well networked and longstanding professionals in Danish and international advisory. They are well-known in the financial community, with Klaus also chairing the Public Accounts committee of the Danish Parliament. We look forward to building our inbound/outbound Danish business and the Clairfield Nordic platform, which has, over the last several years, been consistently ranked as one of the top five M&A advisory firms.”
