White Paper: Private Equity Investment in Dermatology – April 2020 State of the Market
After seven strong years, private equity investment in dermatology has been in decline since 2019. Now, elective procedure bans and shelter-in-place orders have practice owners wondering if the opportunity to sell has passed. This paper examines the differing views on pe-backed consolidation, key performance indicators, investor activity, and saturation by geography and practice size. We see several positive factors for our current and potential clients within a coming private equity player restructuring.
Insight and Perspective: Middle Market M&A Activity in the Current Environment
It is no surprise that middle market M&A has not escaped the current economic crisis—as it is filled with companies across a wide array of industries that have been seriously impacted by the country’s abrupt slowdown. However, the effect has not been uniform across industry sectors and the stage in the process. Some sectors continue to press ahead while others have halted altogether. FOCUS Investment Banking has been asked by several partners to provide insight and perspective on the current state and future outlook for middle market M&A given the current market environment. FOCUS gathered the questions and then engaged with its team of over 40 bankers and senior advisors, across its ten industry practices, gathering responses to the questions posed.
FOCUS U.S. Communications Service Provider Quarterly: Spring 2020 Report
Public Markets
Not surprisingly given the current state of the public markets, it was a challenging three-month period for the FOCUS Communications Service Provider Index (CSPI). The sector plummeted just shy of 20% over this time frame, which was roughly in-line with the 20.0% drop in the S&P 500 but greater than the 14.2% drop in the NASDAQ over the corresponding time frame.The situation looks a bit better when measured over the full year period.The CSPI was down only 9.3% in the past 12 months, although once again this underperforms both the S&P 500 (down 8.8%) and the NASDAQ (down 0.4%). Sector multiples are lower than they were in the year-ago period, although the drop is not as dramatic as we might have feared.The sector revenue multiple dipped from 2.7x t0 2.5x, while the sector EBITDA multiple fell from 8.0x to 7.2x.
FOCUS Telecom Business Services Quarterly: Spring 2020 Report
Public Markets
Unfortunately the FOCUS Telecom Business Services Index (TBSI) was not immune from the storm that hit the capital markets this period. The sector plummeted 27.2% over the past three months, which significantly underperformed both the 20.0% drop in the S&P 500 and the 14.2% drop in the NASDAQ over the corresponding time period. The situation is similar for the full year period as the 9.1% drop in the TBSI was greater than the 8.8% and 0.4% drops in the S&P 500 and NASDAQ, respectively. Interestingly, the sector revenue multiple held steady compared to this same time last year at 0.4x. However, the EBITDA multiple for the sector fell precipitously from 9.2x a year ago to 6.6x currently.A2Z Manufacturing: Is This the Competitor You Should Really Be Worrying About?
Merger and acquisition activity has accelerated in the precision machining industry due to the confluence of three fundamental technological and market forces.
- Large capital inflows from private equity funds
- Automated, digital manufacturing processes
- Digital integration of the supply chain
FOCUS Carrier-Focused Telecom Technology Quarterly: Spring 2020 Report
Public Markets
Our Spring 2020 report marks a full year of reports where the Carrier-Focused Telecom Technology Index (CFTTI) delivered a negative return for the three-month period. In this case the sector was down 6.9% over the past three months. The broader indices are also down over this time frame, although not as steeply. The S&P 500 lost 6.0% over this same period, while the NASDAQ only dropped 1.1%. The situation for the full year is even more discouraging as the CFTTI is down 17.0% year-over-year while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ are up 6.1% and 13.7%, respectively. Sector multiples have also dropped significantly compared to this same time last year. The sector revenue multiple dropped from 2.5x to 2.1x, while the sector EBITDA multiple fell from 14.9x to 10.6x.FOCUS Enterprise-Focused Telecom Technology Quarterly – Winter 2020
Public Markets
After a disappointing fall report, the Focus Enterprise-Focused Telecom Technology Index (EFTTI) underwent a modest bounce back in our winter reporting period with a three-month gain of 3.3%. While it was certainly good to see the EFTTI back in positive territory, the index still trailed the 6.2% gain in the S&P 500 and the 10.4% gain in the NASDAQ by a fairly wide margin.The situation is similar for the twelve-month period, where the 6.2% year-over-year gain in the EFTTI compares poorly with the corresponding gains of 19.3% and 25.7% in the S&P 500 and NASDAQ, respectively. On a more positive note, we did see that sector multiples are higher than they were at this same time last year.The sector revenue multiple increased from 4.0x to 4.3x, while the sector EBITDA multiple went from 16.9x to 17.8x.White Paper: Private Equity Investment in Gastroenterology – 2020 Outlook
Is gastroenterology the next darling of private equity? Large GI practice acquisitions exploded in 2019, tripling that of the prior three years. Expansion to new geographic areas doubled in each of the last three quarters of 2019. We see this activity accelerating in 2020 when a significant number of new private equity investors enter the market and physician sellers see high demand for their practices.
White Paper: Private Equity Investment in Ophthalmology – 2020 Outlook
Private equity investment in ophthalmology practices has been one of the "hottest" sectors in M&A over the last several years. We believe the market will continue to be strong but our key indicators now signal a transition to Network Growth in 2020 – a more mature phase characterized by consistent add-on acquisitions. There are still open geographies with great opportunity, such as Texas and multiple areas on the West Coast. We project increased deal activity in these areas including large platform acquisitions.