September 17th, 2025.
Today marks the launch of 7oceans: an international M&A alliance bringing together trusted, experienced merger and acquisition advisory firms worldwide. Through this alliance, the partner firms are better positioned to identify and approach suitable buyers and targets on behalf of their clients. In this way, 7oceans combines global reach with local expertise to make merger and acquisition transactions possible.
The founding members of the alliance are Stepstone Corporate Finance+ (Netherlands), Provantage (United Kingdom), Taurus Advisory (Germany), Adviso Partners (France), Nash Advisory (Italy), Ramus & Company (Switzerland) and CKS Finance (Ireland). Each firm continues to operate independently under its own name, while working closely together in the execution of M&A transactions. In the coming years, 7oceans aims to expand further by welcoming ambitious firms in North America, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
Stepstone Corporate Finance+, the Dutch member of the alliance, has been active for over six years and consists of a team of ten professionals. Jurgen van Dijk and Ruud van Hoek, partners at Stepstone Corporate Finance+, aim to be an entrepreneurial, personal and professional advisor in buy- and sell-side transactions. Stepstone Corporate Finance+ has already completed more than 40 M&A transactions, and with the launch of 7oceans, the partners are further enhancing the quality of their international service offering.
A significant proportion of Dutch sell-side transactions are completed with buyers from other European countries. “It is far more effective to have my international colleagues approach these buyers directly. Differences in language and culture make it more efficient and effective to engage them through a local representative,” says Ruud van Hoek.
The partner firms within the 7oceans alliance have completed many hundreds of successful transactions. What sets 7oceans apart from other M&A networks is the combination of this proven experience with the strong level of collaboration between the firms. Weekly deal calls are held, shared databases are used, joint pitches are organised and global conferences take place twice a year. This results in better coordinated and therefore more efficient international transactions.
“On the buy-side, we often advise companies that — sometimes supported by private equity — pursue a European buy-and-build strategy. With the support of our 7oceans colleagues, we are now able to identify attractive acquisition targets across multiple countries simultaneously and approach their owners in the most effective way. This truly differentiates us from our competitors,” according to Jurgen van Dijk.