1st Half 2010 Key Highlights

• The most active buyer in the Software Industry was Google Inc., with 9 transactions.
• There were 64 financially sponsored transactions with an aggregate value of $7.69 billion, representing 13 percent of the total volume and 21 percent of the total value, respectively.

1st Half 2010 Key Trends

• Total transaction volume increased by 22 percent from 418 in Second Half 2009 to 509 in First Half 2010.
• Total transaction value in First Half 2010 increased by 74 percent from $20.27 billion in Second Half 2009 to $35.30 billion in First Half 2010.
• Consumer Applications increased by 94 percent in volume from Second Half 2009 from 15 to 31 transactions.
• Of the top ten deals, four companies being acquired have been in business since 1995. The sale of Cybersource Corporation, Sybase Inc., Palm Inc., and the exit of Verisign, Inc. from its main authentication business, marks the consolidation of once-prominent software industry brands.

M&A Market Overview

Berkery Noyes tracked 2151 transactions between 2008 and 2010, of which 781 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate transaction value to be $95.00 billion. Based on known transaction values, we project values of the 1370 undisclosed transactions to be $21.68 billion, totalling $116.69 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past 30 months.

The largest transaction tracked by Berkery Noyes between 2008 and 2010 was Oracle Corporation’s acqisition of Sun Microsystems, Inc. for $7.08 billion.

The most active buyer in the software Industry between 2008 and the 1st Half of 2010 was Google, Inc., with 24 transactions.