1ST HALF 2013 KEY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Capita plc, a UK based provider of business process outsourcing (BPO) and professional support services, was the most active acquirer in 1st Half 2013 with four industry transactions: Creating Careers, KnowledgePool, Inc., Blue Sky Performance Improvement, and Micro Librarian Systems.
  • Pearson plc was also an active acquirer in 1st Half 2013 with three transactions: Learning Catalytics LLC, IndiaCan Education Pvt Ltd and Exam Design, Inc.
  • There were 33 financially sponsored transactions in 1st Half 2013, with an aggregate value of $836 million, representing 24 percent of the total volume and 20 percent of the total value, respectively.

1ST HALF 2013 KEY TRENDS

  • Total transaction volume in 1st Half 2013 increased by five percent over 2nd Half 2012, from 128 to 135
  • Total transaction value in 1st Half 2013 decreased by 16 percent over 2nd Half 2012, from $4.57 billion to $3.84 billion.
  • The median revenue multiple declined from 1.4x in 2nd Half 2012 to 1.0x in 1st Half 2013. Median value remained nearly constant during this timeframe.
  • Deal volume in the K-12 Media and Tech segment increased 38 percent over the last six months, from 21 to 29 transactions, giving it a slight edge over Professional Training Institutions as the industry’s largest market segment year-to-date.

M&A Market Overview

Berkery Noyes tracked 678 transactions between 2011 and 1st Half 2013, of which 213 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate transaction value to be $20.66 billion. Based on known transaction values, we project the values of 465 undisclosed transactions to be $2.70 billion, totaling $23.37 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past two and a half years.

Disclosed median enterprise value multiples for all segments combined in this report during the last 30 months were 1.5x revenue and 12.0x EBITDA.