1st - The Exchange

Despite being appointed late on in the process and facing a complex situation involving two major share holders, Clearwater rose to the challenge and worked with all parties to create an effective solution and enhance the management position on the £115m buy-out of 1st - The Exchange from their parent company Vertex.

1st - The Exchange is one of the leading providers of technology and e-commerce solutions to the financial industry. The company develops software for financial planning, as well as client management and full back office administration to more than 16,000 adviser firms, and has approximately 27,000 registered users. Their vision is to ‘deliver remarkable solutions to their clients that shape the future of financial services.’ They believe that team-spirit, innovations and integrity, underpinned by passion, allows them to deliver the best solutions for their customers.

Clearwater was able to advise the management team headed by managing director David Child, and included director’s Paul Yates and Kevin Budge. Clearwater was appointed as advisors to the management team after Lloyds Development Capital (‘LDC’) and Vertex had agreed a £42m investment. While LDC purchased a controlling stake in the company Clearwater was instrumental in improving the management team’s terms and equity stake, with Vertex retaining a significant share holding.

Commenting on the success of the deal, Managing Director David Child said: “Clearwater quickly got to grips with the key issues and provided senior level, balanced and commercial advice from start to finish. The transaction had a number of sensitive challenges which Clearwater helped us to resolve whilst maintaining the momentum behind the deal.”

1st - The Exchange hs recently won the ‘Personal Advisor Award 2010’ for best data and quotation provider for advisors. This is the third year in a row that they have collected a Personal Advisor Award and are able to add it to their extensive list of accolades.