About

With an ever-growing urban population across the globe, sustainable water use has become an increasingly important issue. Barcelona-based multinational Fluidra has been devoted to developing applications for this purpose for 40 years, specialising in water treatment, fluid handling, irrigation and pool management for domestic, commercial and public use. The company now operates in more than 45 countries and employs approximately 4,500 people. The legal team supporting Fluidra’s development is led by Andrés Botella, director of legal, tax and compliance. Nominators pointed to the legal team’s ability to help drive growth for Fluidra even during a time of economic downturn for the Spanish economy: ‘Fluidra´s M&A department found a way to reinvent itself during these past years and found new business opportunities in order to achieve the continuous growth that a company like Fluidra needs’, said one. The team’s success is attributed to the ‘huge knowledge that they have of the sector… and a capability of negotiation and overcoming of the obstacles of the economic situation in our country’. As part of its “Strategic Plan”, Fluidra has made a number of international acquisitions in the last two years, which have enabled the business units to grow geographically. Since 2015, the legal department has also assisted on acquisitions in Spain, Australia, South Africa, France, and the Netherlands, as well as opening offices or subsidiaries around the world. The stand out transaction of 2016 was the acquisition of a 70% stake in SIBO, a leading water products company in the Netherlands. A deal structured in two parts saw an initial investment of €5.7m paid in cash, with a further payment deferred until 2018 that is dependent on financial results in 2017. There is no doubt that the legal team has enabled Fluidra to stay on track with its planned expansion, both in terms of protection of products and on due diligence on international acquisitions.