Clearwater advises Adservice on its sale to Adtraction

Transaction

Adservice sold to Adtraction

Sell-side

Undisclosed

Role

Adviser to Adservice on its sale to Adtraction

Sector

Tech & Tech Services

Region

Denmark

Clearwater has advised the affiliate marketing specialist, Adservice, on its sale to Adtraction, a leading digital marketing platform.

Adservice is prominent within partner and affiliate marketing in the Nordics, Spain, and Germany. Through their platform, companies wishing to sell a product or service can generate leads through an affiliate partner’s homepage, blog, or price comparison site, among others. The company consists of 400 advertisers, 1200 partners, and a €32.6m (DKK 280m) net turnover.

Adtraction is a leading digital marketing platform in the Nordics with the same business case baseline as Adservice, focusing on advertisers within e-commerce and finance. They are quoted on Nasdaq First North Stockholm, with offices in 12 European countries, and headquarters in Stockholm.

The transaction enables Adtraction to strengthen its presence and position in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Germany, and Spain. Both companies’ platforms will be developed further, with the ambition to create freedom of choice for advertisers and partners, in addition to growing existing market shares.

I am left with a good feeling of having succeeded and reached the goal, after a process with many thoughts and considerations. We were looking for a set-up where both the organisation and I could thrive in the future and we have found that in Adtraction, being ambitious and energetic like us. Though they were our biggest competitor, we continue in the same direction as before the sale, just quicker and better together. We have been happy with the super-experienced team at Clearwater that made us feel secure throughout an unknown process, handling the negotiation in a way that allows us to easily start a new era with Adtraction.
Casper Grud, CEO, Adservice

As an adviser, it is crucial to be able to handle a complex transaction structure like this one, being both a sale to the biggest competitor, and a sale to a buyer listed on First North in Sweden. That also sets high demands on the advising approach, especially in the negotiation process, as the two organisations have to be able to work side by side going forwards. It is not only about price, but greatly about chemistry and values. We do not doubt that Adservice, together with Adtraction, will be an even more successful actor in the market for affiliate marketing going forwards.
Per Surland, Partner, Clearwater