Third Quarter Key Highlights

  • The most active acquirers within the Software Industry through Q3 2011 were EMC Corporation and Google Inc. with 10 acquisitions each.
  • Vista Equity Partners was the most active acquirer during Q3 2011 with 5 acquisitions: Thomson Reuters Trade and Risk Management Business, Sage Healthcare Inc., CompuLaw LLC, Client Profiles, Inc. and CyberShift, Inc.
  • The largest transaction for the third quarter as well as the 1st 3 Quarters of 2011 was the acquisition of Autonomy Corporation plc by HP for $10.28 billion.

Third Quarter Key Trends

  • Total transaction volume in Q3 2011 decreased by 11 percent over Q2 2011, from 366 to 324 transactions.
  • Total transaction value in Q3 2011 decreased by 22 percent over Q2 2011, from $29.9 billion to $23.4 billion.

Multiples & Value Trends

  • Median EBITDA multiples in Q3 2011 remained largely unchanged from the last quarter, at 13.6.
  • Median revenue multiples in Q3 2011 remained nearly the same, at 2.3 times revenue.
  • HP’s acquisition of Autonomy Corporation plc represents a 10.8 revenue multiple and a 24.5 EBITDA multiple.

Top Ten Deals Through Q3 2011

  • The top ten deals by value have seen three new additions since our halfyear report, chief among them HP’s acquisition of Autonomy. Providence Equity Partners Inc.’s acquisition of Blackboard Inc. for $1.7 billion and NCR Corporation’s acquisition of Radiant Systems, Inc. for $1.1 billion are the other new additions to this list.
  • These three acquisitions, with an aggregate value of $13 billion, represent 21 percent of total transaction value in the 1st 3 Quarters of 2011, and 57 percent of Q3 2011 transaction value.