Equiteq advises Water Street Partners on sale to Ankura
Ankura Consulting has acquired Water Street, a form specialising in joint venture and transaction advisory services to a multi-national client base. The deal saw M&A specialist advisory firm Equiteq support Water Street as its financial advisor.
Geoff Walker, Co-Founder Water Street Partners said, “It is hard to imagine the Equiteq team… delivering a deal under more difficult circumstances. The Covid-19 pandemic was breaking out as we signed the LOI – Adam and the team steered us through tremendous uncertainty with dogged persistence, extraordinary effort, real creativity, and integrity.”
Founded in 2008, Water Street provides companies with transaction, governance, and portfolio advisory services related to joint ventures and other non-M&A partnerships. In governance, the firm works with boards, management teams, and individual shareholders. Equiteq’s team of Adam Tindall, Dan Kim, Ravi Dosanjh, and Tom Tartaglia served as a financial advisor to Water Street, with the deal seeing Walker, James Bamford, Gerard Baynham, Peter Daniel, and David Ernst – join Ankura as Senior Managing Directors.
Equiteq is a professional services firm specialising in advising owners of knowledge-intensive businesses on M&A activity. The firm operates around the world from offices in London, Paris, New York, Singapore, and Sydney.
Adam Tindall, Managing Director of Equiteq’s North America practice, commented, “It has been an honour representing the world’s premier joint venture and alliance advisory firm in this transaction. The Water Street team have done a fantastic job at building a highly specialized and successful practice, and Ankura will be a great home to support the company’s growth. We wish the combined team great success.”
Ankura is a business and expert advisory firm based in Washington, D.C., working to provide expert advice across a broad array of complex and highly challenging situations. The firm has additional offices in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Dallas, as well as San Juan, Puerto Rico, and London. The firm’s acquisition of Water Street will help with its expansion into Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia.
Kevin Lavin, Chief Executive Officer of Ankura, commented, “Water Street is a proven leader in the joint venture and alliance advisory sector. This combination extends our delivery of expert advice to an expanding global client base facing complex and challenging situations.”
Elsewhere in the deal, law firm Cooley acted as legal counsel to Water Street, and Davis Polk & Wardwell provided legal counsel to Ankura. Funds affiliated with private equity investment firm Madison Dearborn Partners remain significant shareholders in Ankura.
