Companies are pursuing M&A in order to compete with the likes of Amazon, Facebook, and Google, and stay relevant with consumers. Technology is transforming multiple industries – not just media and telecommunications – but also healthcare, food and beverage, and automotive. Deals by strategic acquirers from a wide array of industries reached a record $200 …
Category: M&A in the News
Lessons for the Middle Market from the AT&T – Time Warner Deal
396 days. One year and one month. That is how long it’s been since AT&T first announced it would acquire Time Warner for $85 billion on October 22, 2016. As the AT&T – Time Warner deal languishes in the courts, I am again reminded of the advantages that privately held middle market companies have when …
M&A Update: 3Q 2017 – Middle Market Activity on the Rise
Overall deal value and volume remain flat, but middle market activity is on the rise. When compared to 2016, worldwide M&A value and volume remained relatively flat for the first nine months of 2017, rising only 2% and 0.4%, respectively. In the US, announced deal value dropped 12% while the number of deals rose 18%, …
Department Stores Go Out of Style: Lord & Taylor Building to Sell to WeWork
Hudson’s Bay, the parent company of Lord & Taylor, announced it would sell the iconic fifth avenue store to co-working startup WeWork and Rhone Capital LLC for $850 million. The price is a 30 percent premium over the value of the real estate when it was last appraised in 2016. Lord & Taylor will rent …
Ikea Buys Freelance Platform TaskRabbit so You’ll Never Have to Assemble Their Furniture Again
If you have ever purchased Ikea furniture, you understand the struggle of trying to assemble it. The “simple” diagrams are not easy to follow, some of the screws or nails go missing, and sometimes the piece falls apart after you finish building it. Ikea is hoping to solve this problem for future buyers with its …
Nestlé Bets on Fast Growing Markets with Sweet Earth and Blue Bottle Coffee Deals
Nestlé is scooping up two brands in fast growing markets to expand its product offerings in North America. The Swiss company will acquire Sweet Earth, a maker of plant-based foods, as consumer demand for natural, organic and healthy food grows. Nestle expects the market to reach $5.21 billion by 2020. Based in Moss Landing, California, …
How to Navigate Today’s High Valuation Multiples
Valuation multiples in the middle market are “unprecedented” due to low interest rates, relatively cheap debt available in today’s market, and high amounts of dry powder chasing the same deals. According to GF Data, average valuations reached 7.4 times, the highest quarterly mark the data base has recorded in 15 years. With such high valuations, …
Fujifilm to Use Acquisitions to Grow Beyond Shrinking Film Market
Can you remember the last time you had film developed? My guess is that it’s been a long time for most of you. Digital cameras, first introduced in the 1980s, have surpassed traditional film cameras in popularity. Kodak, once the dominant player in photography, failed to transition from analog to digital and went bankrupt in …
M&A Today: Smaller Deals Are on the Rise
Acquirers are favoring smaller acquisitions over mega deals. If you were to compare M&A in 2017 to previous years, you might think that dealmaking is declining, but a closer look at the data tells a different story. Although announced US deal value decreased by 16 percent in the first half of 2017, the number of …
Summer Blockbuster Deals – Verizon, Netflix Execute Acquisitions
Deal activity in the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) sector is heating up as companies acquire to keep up with evolving technology and consumer demand. The internet and smartphones have changed how people view and share information with consumers, abandoning cable TV in favor of streaming services that provide customized TV and music on demand. …
