Articles

Jonathan Wilfong on CEO Exclusive Radio

What Middle-Market CEOs Need to Know Now: Part 2

Q: What does it mean to be a “platform company?” Should a business owner aspire to be a platform company? WILFONG: First, a business owner needs to develop his company with a good management team, a good customer base, and all those things that comprise a successful company. At that point, the business owner is not really thinking about whether the company is going to be a platform for a portfolio and for add-ons.
Jonathan Wilfong on CEO Exclusive Radio

What Middle-Market CEOs Need to Know Now: Part 1

Q: In 2015, we heard a lot about how favorable the market was for acquisitions. What’s happening with deals in investment banking now? WILFONG: Indeed, 2015 was a very robust year for deals in the lower middle-market space which FOCUS defines as companies that do up to 250 million in revenue. This activity was driven by a couple of factors...
a close up of a businessman pressing a digital button with text reading 2016

What Will Drive Dealmaking in 2016?

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As demonstrated by 2015 results, FOCUS believes US M&A is booming and also is likely to continue delivering record-breaking results into 2016. A new report, “US M&A H1 2015: Riding High,” released by MergerMarket, supports this conclusion:

“US M&A is on pace to post its best performance since 2007… The US economy is stable and …

a person spray painting the side of a car blue

FOCUS: Consolidation in 4,000-outlet paint jobber industry echoes auto body trends

The heavy consolidation trend in the collision repair industry continues to be mirrored in the 4,000-outlet, $4 billion paint refinish distribution segment, a new FOCUS Investment Banking report notes. “There are multiple buyers, many willing sellers, cheap capital and attractive prices,” FOCUS Managing Director David Roberts wrote in a recent study.

Large M&A Sellers Consistently Get Higher Prices than Small Sellers

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illustrated tree in the shape of a dollar sign with a man propped up against it on a ladder maintaining the branches 2015 FactSet statistics show that large M&A transactions had higher value multiples than small deals—and the premium is about 30 percent. Median EV/EBITDA multiples for deals exceeding $250 million approximated 12.4x, while the ratio for middle-market transactions was 9.5x. This phenomenon of higher multiples for larger deals has been persistent over time.
Gabe Galvez on the State of Middle Market M&A

Taking the Pulse of Middle Market Investment Banking

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Gabe Galvez is the Founder and CEO of CAPTARGET, an innovative service provider to middle market investment banks, M&A intermediaries and private equity firms. CAPTARGET is in daily contact with a large number of M&A industry participants and has created a comprehensive directory of M&A Intermediary firms, giving Mr. Galvez unique insight into the Middle …

2015 M&A May Pass Records Set in 2000

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an illustrated image of a tree in the shape of an upward arrow A whirlwind of wheeling and dealing continues to drive mergers and acquisitions through the third quarter. According to Thomson Reuters, this is the best year for M&A since before the financial crisis. Global M&A activity has risen 38% year-over-year to $2.18 trillion through the first half of 2015. InvestorPlace reports that “The third quarter was awash in big deals…A great chunk of that deal activity came from U.S. companies, as mergers and acquisitions rose 60% to $987.7 billion. For banking and legal advisers, business hasn’t been this brisk in the first half of a year since 1980…make no mistake — the market loves M&A. A flurry of deal activity signals that companies have confidence in the economy and stock market.”

Strategic or Financial: Which Buyer Pays More?

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When it comes time to sell the company you’ve worked hard to build, it’s crucial to understand the selling process—especially the types of buyers you might be meeting. Potential buyers fall into two main categories: financial and strategic.

Financial buyers acquire a company primarily for financial return. They place a large emphasis on characteristics including …

glass business buldings taken from below

2015 May Be Biggest Year Ever for M&A

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But don’t take our word for it: “Companies are merging at a pace unseen in nearly a decade. Halfway through the year, about $2.15 trillion in M&A deals or offers have been announced globally, according to Dealogic. That puts 2015 on pace to challenge the biggest year on record, 2007, when companies inked deals worth …