2011 Key Highlights

  • The largest transaction for 2011 was HP’s acquisition of Autonomy Corporation for $10.28 billion.
  • Vista Equity Partners and 8 of its portfolio companies: Accruent, Inc., Aderant Holdings, Inc., MicroEdge, LLC, MRI Software LLC, P 2 Energy Solutions, Inc., SumTotal Systems, Inc., Sunquest Information Systems, and Zywave, Inc., combined to be the largest Software Industry acquirer by volume for 2011, with 19 transactions.
  • There were 199 financially sponsored transactions with an aggregate value of $22.40 billion, representing 14 percent of the total volume and 26 percent of the total value, respectively.

2011 Key Trends

  • Total transaction volume in 2011 increased by 10 percent over 2010, from 1313 in 2010 to 1450 this year.
  • Total transaction value in 2011 increased by 6 percent over 2010, from $76.42 billion in 2010 to $80.75 billion this year.
  • The median revenue multiple rose from 1.8x in 2010 to 2.2x in 2011. The median EBITDA multiple increased from 11.2x to 13.3x.
  • The segment with the largest increase in value, Consumer Software, was primarily due to Microsoft Corporation’s acquisition of Skype Technologies SA for $9.08 billion.

M&A Market Overview

Berkery Noyes tracked 3795 transactions between 2009 and 2011, of which 1315 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate transaction value to be $166 billion. Based on known transaction values, we project the value of the 2484 undisclosed transactions to be $34.30 billion, totaling $200.30 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past three years.

The most active acquirer by volume in the Software Industry, either directly or through a partner or affi liated business between 2009 and 2011, was Google Inc. with 43 transactions.

Based on volume, the most active market segment that Berkery Noyes tracked between 2009 and 2011 was Niche Software with 1829 transactions. Niche software includes BtoB solutions in niche industries, for example educational institutions and healthcare and pharmaceutical companies.