Our September 2016 Market Report on M&A values and trends is our latest report on the dozen+ sectors of the information technology industry that we follow and sometimes lead.
So far it’s all looking pretty good. Read more in our September Market Update, here.
The question is – can it continue in the face of business news that is not always pretty?
For example, last week alone Wells Fargo was slammed, fined and is under investigation for opening sham accounts in the names of real customers; the US Department of Justice suggested that Deutsche Bank pay $14 billion related to the fraudulent sale of mortgage-backed securities; Mylan was shamed for hiking the price of EpiPens, the lifesaving allergy treatment – while paying executives huge bonuses; Congress was chastised by many for trying to end the Volker rule and gut Dodd Frank; Samsung was forced to recall their latest mobile phone after multiple instances of it bursting into flames; insurers announced they were jacking up premiums for Obamacare coverage – or were pulling out of the market altogether.
And the two leading candidates for President of the United States spent the week slamming each other and squabbling over who can pander more to the voters.
Lost in all this was the fact that business in most of the developed world is actually doing fairly well. Inflation and interest rates remain at historically low levels, and employment rates are up.
Most information technology businesses that we talk with are experiencing good top line growth and increasing profitability. Head over to read more in our September update, here.
As you will see from our report, m&a deal volume and values in the middle market that we serve remains strong. Some deals of note include:
- EQT (Stockholm, Sweden) agreed to acquire Press Ganey for $40.50/share in cash, or approximately $2.35 billion, valuing the company at an implied 6.9x LTM revenue and 22.7x LTM EBITDA,
- JDA Software (Scottsdale, AZ) completed a $570mm recapitalization from Blackstone and New Mountain Capital,
- SIA (Milan, Italy) agreed to acquire Unicredit’s card processing activities in Italy, Germany, and Austria for approximately $557mm (500mm EUR),
- Yintech Investment Holdings (NASDAQ:YIN) agreed to acquire Gold Master for $219mm, valuing the Company at an implied 6.8x LTM Revenue and 26.3x LTM Net Income,
- Loblaw Companies (TSX:L) agreed to acquire QHR Corporation for $3.10 CAD/share or approximately $130mm, valuing the company at an implied 5.1x LTM revenue and 57.7x LTM EBITDA.
To read the full M&A September 2016 Market Update, click here.
Also, as we all know, banks are under pressure, but is there any hope? Let us know what you think when you head over and hear Jeff Trongone’s thoughts on the future of Fintech.
