Global Mid Market M&A Activity to Rise, According to Study
26 April 2007
LONDON, 26 APRIL 2007 – Expectations are bullish for upcoming cross-border middle market M&A deals among both private equity and corporate executives, despite a slight downturn in deals completed in 2007’s first quarter, according to a Global M&A study performed by mergermarket and released today in London.
The middle market (deals with enterprise values of €25m to €250m) typically accounts for 300 to 350 deals per quarter in the US and Europe respectively. The Cross-Border M&A Reporter notes that in the first quarter of 2007, deals were slightly below this level, at 283 in the US and 299 in Europe.
However, 76 percent of study interview respondents said they expect an increase in activity over the next six months in cross-border M&A in their native countries, and 60 percent said they expect an increase in their domestic middle market M&A.
“The middle market is vibrant and very attractive,” said Michael Gibbons, Global M&A chairman. “These results confirm what our partners know from their work in over 30 economies.”
Other key findings include:
• Private equity is expected by 65 percent of respondents to be “very active” in cross-border M&A in the next six months.
• US private equity funds are expected by 64 percent to be “active” or “very active” in acquiring European middle market targets in the next six months.
• Yet more competition from strategic buyers is expected in the next six months by 73 percent of respondents.
“This report indicates expected growth in deals, prices and multiples said Michael Gibbons, chairman of Global M&A. With private equity and corporations competing for targets, full value will be realized by those who understand the practices of the middle market, the particular locality in which the target resides and also its sector,” Gibbons said.
The Cross-Border M&A Reporter is based on 50 telephone interviews with private equity professionals and corporate executives in Europe and the US conducted in March and April 2007. It is available at: [give link].
The study was released today at the 4th Annual Global M&A Conference, “Conquering Cross-Border Challenges,” in London. Conference information is at: www.globalma.com/events.
About Global M&A
Global M&A is the world’s leading partnership of independent mid-market financial advisory firms focusing on cross-border transactions with values between €20 and €250 million. The Global M&A partnership consists of over 30 partners in financial centres spanning the globe. Members have completed more than 700 transactions with an aggregate deal value exceeding €15 billion since 2000. Global M&A was named 2005 Investment Bank of the Year by The M&A Advisor, a leading publication dedicated to middle market merger and acquisition activity. For more information, please visit www.globalma.com.
About mergermarket
mergermarket is part of The Mergermarket Group, which has over 400 employees worldwide and regional head offices in New York, London and Hong Kong. mergermarket is an independent Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) intelligence service, with the largest network of dedicated M&A journalists on the ground in 53 locations across the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle- East and Africa. This team focuses on gathering actionable proprietary intelligence, creating the only origination database of live targets and bidders. mergermarket is also an unrivalled source of deal history. Public and private deals across a range of sectors can be searched using an exhaustive database. This proprietary intelligence and historical deals database is available to over 70,000 individual subscribers from more than 1,000 of the world's principal advisory firms, investment banks, law firms, private equity firms and corporates. Visit us at: www.mergermarket.com.
Cross-Border Reporter 
