Pictured above: Dan Bowtell

The Midlands team of Clearwater Corporate Finance is set to expand its technology practice as it welcomes back director Dan Bowtell to the Midlands.

A founding member of Clearwater 8 years ago, Dan specialises in mid-market M&A transactions and has over 10 years experience in company sales and private equity for MBO's and growth capital. Dan will work across Clearwater's two Midlands offices in Birmingham and Nottingham.

Dan joins after two years at Clearwater's London office where he worked on a number of key deals including the sale of XLN Telecom to ECI, the acquisition of Mankind by the Hut group and the buyout of Asperity Employee Benefits by Inflexion Private Equity.

Dan said: "It's great to be back in the Midlands. The region's dealmaking community has bounced back from the recession and had a solid 2010, with deal numbers and values up on the previous year. We expect our technology team to capitalise on market consolidation within the sector and the increasing interest of private equity houses in technology companies. Coinciding with my return to the Midlands, we are launching a new technology price index, Cloudaq, in February, which will track companies operating in the cloud."

Phil Burns, managing partner at Clearwater, said: "Dan's return is a real boost for our Midlands team and provides the region with a real sector specialist for technology businesses locally."