AI Issue 5 2017

86 Acquisition International - May 2017 In keeping with overall mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in 2016, both the volume and value of private equity (PE) deals declined when compared to 2015, according to Zephyr, the M&A database published by Bureau van Dijk. However, 2017 has started fairly positively; the $111,926 million invested in Q1 marks an improvement on the $76,425 million injected over the corresponding timeframe in 2016. here have already been plenty of significant PE transactions announced during 2017. All of the year’s top 25 to date are worth in excess of $1,000 million and two deals have actually broken the $7,000 million-barrier. These incidences of investors digging deep to get the companies they want have resulted in a positive result for Q1; the $111,926 million invested between January and March, while still slightly lower than the $117,545 million injected in Q1 2015 (which went on to be an extremely impressive year in terms of activity), is otherwise the highest value for a Q1 period since Q1 2007, when $224,194 million was recorded, prior to the onset of the global financial crisis. This gives plenty of cause for optimism for the year ahead and means it will be particularly interesting to see how Q2 stacks up against the corresponding period of 2016. Since the start of April, some 328 PE deals worth a combined $42,014 million have been announced. In the second quarter of 2016, $128,487 million was injected across 1,538 transactions, meaning there is still some way to go if value is to reach such heights again this year. However, it is worth bearing in mind that the largest PE deal of 2017 so far has occurred during the second quarter; JAB Holdings and BDT Capital Partners have lodged a $7.50 billion bid to acquire Missouri-headquartered eat-in bakeries operator Panera Bread. This deal alone accounted for 17.9% of total value invested via all PE deals announced since the start of April. Other large PE deals signed off in Q2 include a $5,627 million buyout of German drug researcher and developer Stada Arzneimittel by Bain Capital and Cinven and Bass Pro Group’s $5,000 million bid for US outdoor equipment retailer Cabela’s. These deals are evidence of the continued appetite for large transactions and a few more on this scale would go some way towards boosting aggregate value significantly by the end of June, when we will have a better indication of how 2017 is stacking up against last year. In terms of world regions, North America has attracted the most investment in Q2 to date, having been targeted in deals worth a combined $22,812 million. It was followed by Western Europe with $14,233 million, while the Far East and Central Asia placed third with $3,240 million. Interestingly, the latter tops the volume rankings for Q2 so far with 105 transactions, while North America and Western Europe followed with 100 and 90, respectively. This again shows the impact a single large deal can have; although it was targeted in more deals, the Far East and Central Asia was a long way behind North America by value, largely due to the fact that it featured in fewer of the period’s most valuable transactions. In conclusion, 2017 has started promisingly in terms of PE investment levels, but those watching the markets will be keeping an eye out for more large deals in the coming months in the hopes that Q2 can build on this positive start. A failure to surpass Q2 2016’s results will be a disappointment and could have a big impact on how results for the year as a whole shapes up once December rolls around. Company: Bureau van Dijk E-Mail: [email protected] Web: www.bvdinfo.com Private EquityM&A T