Private equity firms are increasingly acquiring minority interests in public companies in order to grow, according to the Wall Street Journal. The landscape for PE is changing. Firms are facing tough competition from strategic acquirers who have cash on their balance sheets and are typically willing to spend more on an acquisition. At the same …
Category: M&A and External Growth
Will Your Acquisition Fall Apart?
While it’s an important milestone, a signed letter of intent does not guarantee a successful acquisition. Just ask Pfizer who withdrew its $150 billion bid to acquire Allergan after signing a LOI. Pfizer ended up paying a breakup fee of $150 million. After the LOI is signed, you still have a few major steps to take before the acquisition …
Capstone Advises Kinetrex Energy Exploration & Production in Acquiring Oil Assets in Knox County, Indiana from Trey Exploration
Capstone announced today that Citizens Energy Group through its subsidiary Kinetrex Energy Exploration & Production, has acquired a 50% working interest in oil assets in Knox County, Indiana from Trey Exploration. Capstone Strategic, Inc. (Capstone) announced today that Kinetrex Energy Exploration & Production (KEEP), a subsidiary of Citizens Energy Group (Citizens), has acquired a 50% stake …
Can a Minority Shareholder Block an Acquisition?
When you have multiple stockholders you typically have a stockholders’ agreement in place that all stockholders are required to sign. That will usually have what’s called a drag-along provision which states that if the majority of stockholders either approve a sale transaction, everyone else is required to go along with it. If you have a …
How to Verify an Acquisition Target’s Unaudited Financials
Obtaining audited financial statements is always best when valuing an acquisition prospect. An audit enhances your confidence and ensures what management has presented is a “true and fair” view of the company’s financial performance and position. We run into plenty of privately-held, middle market companies that don’t have audited financial statements. Many have their financial …
Can You Conduct Thorough Due Diligence When Data Is Missing?
One of the challenges of due diligence is that you often do not have access to all the data. Of course you want to know every last detail about the acquisition prospect so you can make the best decision. Unfortunately, the real world is never perfect. The prospect may have an incomplete or no record of the …
Successful Acquisitions Begin with Trust
Trust is everything. As leaders, we can forget this during the excitement of a deal. We can get caught up in reviewing financials, bogged down in the details of due diligence, or absorbed in mountains of research and completely forget about the humans involved in the transaction. When you take a moment to think, it’s …
Yahoo Cyberattack Highlights Need for Functional Due Diligence in M&A
Yahoo says the private information of at least 500 million has been compromised due to a cyber-attack in 2014. In the biggest security breach to date, hackers gained access to sensitive information including names, emails addresses, telephone numbers, birth dates, passwords, and security questions. The security breach has ramifications not just for Yahoo and its …
What Is the Guideline Public Company Method in Valuation?
The Guideline Public Company (GPC) Method is one of the more popular valuation methodologies because people often hear about it in the news or in presentations. This method identifies prices for individual shares of publicly traded companies that are subject to the same industry dynamics as the subject company (the company you are trying to …
Credit Union – Bank Mergers on the Rise
The credit union industry is evolving. While many credit unions are consolidating through credit union mergers, others are seizing creative opportunities such as adopting cloud technology to improve efficiencies, focusing on underserved markets, and using partnerships and strategic mergers and acquisitions to grow and bring value to members. One interesting trend to note is credit …
