WINNER 2019
Marie-Claude Boisvert and the members of the Clearspring Capital Partners team had great ambitions when they decided to invest in Demers Ambulances in November 2016. They wanted it to become the second largest ambulance manufacturer in North America. It took them two years to achieve their objective.
Since September 2015, Boisvert has been a partner at Clearspring, a private equity investment firm that invests $20M to $50M in businesses with significant growth potential.
It’s exciting to have team projects that allow companies to grow and reach new stages in their development.
After having acquired a majority interest in Demers Ambulances, Clearspring instantly succeeded in doubling its size thanks to the acquisition of the U.S. manufacturer Braun Industries, in February 2018.
Merging Demers and Braun helped create a company earning $200M in annual revenues with over 500 employees in its Belœil and Ohio facilities.
Eight months later, Demers-Braun merged with another competitor that manufactures both ambulances and buses: Crestline Coach, in Saskatoon.
A win-win approach
Once again, Marie-Claude Boisvert and the Clearspring team, were involved in all aspects of the acquisition, financing and integration once the transaction was concluded.
According to her, Clearspring made a bold move and was able to focus on a win-win approach to successfully merge three competitors in such a short time. The results spoke for themselves: Demers-Braun more than tripled its profits in two years and expects to triple them again in the next five years thanks to the synergies and internal growth.
Marie-Claude Boisvert is the outgoing Chair of the Board of Réseau Capital and is the instigator and CFO of the ELLE-Invest initiative to promote women in private investment. She is also a board member of the Lise Watier Foundation whose Let’s Start Up program supports women seeking financial autonomy to become entrepreneurs.