Julie Comer: A Perception of Global Possibilities
It seems that things are changing quickly across the entire planet. That can be a very positive direction when those driving it are well informed, talented, and have a goal of everyone benefitting. Julie Comer has certainly made a name for herself in the past few years, facilitating major international deals in America, France, the UK, and China. After graduating from a top-tier French business school, Ms. Comer rebuked the traditional route of joining a renowned international consultancy or bank to instead accept a position at an NYC based M&A and growth strategy consultancy. This early decision established a career for Julie of always seeking a more insightful path rather than maintaining the status quo; this trait could not be more appealing to companies seeking the insight of a financial analyst and mergers & acquisitions expert. Reflecting on that initial decision, Julie imparts, “While I wanted to start my career in an Anglo-Saxon environment, I did not want to join a large corporation. Instead, I was interested in a company with an attractive value proposition and taking an active role in making it succeed. What finally made up my mind was the brilliant people with unique backgrounds I would work with as I considered it as a good enough guarantee for betting on this company’s success.” As a key member of Lazare Consulting LLC (the aforementioned NYC based company), Julie has informed and led a movement of important cross-border deals which establish a present-day climate of progressive business.
Early in her career, as a Junior at Lazare Consulting LLC, Julie Comer took part in two important M&A processes: the acquisition of SRDS (a leading US data provider) by Adwanted (a rapidly expanding European Media Software group) and the selling process of a Chinese e-commerce company Full Jet to Baozun (the leader and pioneer in the branded e-commerce services industry in China). The added impediment of Covid protocols further complicated her normal responsibilities of structuring financial documents, managing due diligence phases, preparing memorandums, and client meetings. However, it also became clear to all involved parties that Julie possessed the ability and drive to succeed regardless of obstacles. After a year in America, she returned to France to work on two massive deals for Adwanted. The first of these was helping the company raise fifteen million euro to acquire UK based software/data/events/news leader Mediatel. Julie proved herself equally adept at working with the fiscal and legal specifications involved in such huge international dealings. Just as importantly, she gained the notoriety in Europe that she had already established in America as one of the brightest in the industry.
2021 and 2022 saw Julie Comer vacillating between the US and France, becoming an important conduit for even bigger deals across multiple international lines. None has been bigger or more impressive than her involvement in Baozun’s (China’s preeminent brand e-commerce solutions provider) acquisition of GAP Greater China. In addition to being a game changer for GAP in China, this acquisition also marked a substantial evolution in the long-term strategy of Baozun with the launch of their new line of service, Baozun Brand Management. Even after scrutinizing every detail of this project and meetings in Paris and London to negotiate the different agreements required to close the deal, Julie specifies that there is more ahead with supporting Baozun in defining an integration plan combining a China-for-China strategy and a technology-driven approach to drive Gap Greater China’s future growth.
To most people, this type of work sounds tense and stressful. Huge amounts of currency are changing hands and entire corporate structures are being reestablished, all through meetings with various entrepreneurs and executives who live in different countries and often speak different languages. The complexity is mind boggling. Julie Comer confesses that she thrives in an environment that requires such constant adaptation and creativity. She declares, “My days are always different. I have to adapt quickly to new environments and different corporate cultures. I can prepare interviews with the leadership of a 4000-person American firm to help them form a worldwide partnership and then advise a 10-person private equity firm to strengthen their financial models and review their hypotheses before they close their $40 million investment. Years after I began this course, I still don’t regret my choice to work within a consulting & M&A boutique; it’s definitely not a corporate job but instead more an entrepreneurial one within corporate organizations. It made me discover what it takes to sign a new client and the tenacity you need to close a deal with a small team or attract and retain new talents.”
