2014 Key Highlights

  • Four of the top ten highest value deals in 2014 occurred in the Business Software segment, which consists of software designed for general business practices and not specific industry markets, making it the best represented segment in the top ten list.
  • The largest deal in the Niche Software segment, which is targeted to specific industry markets, was Oracle’s acquisition of MICROS Systems, Inc. The provider of point-of-sale (POS) software and other integrated solutions for the hospitality and retail sectors was acquired for $4.6 billion.
  • There were 305 financially sponsored transactions with an aggregate value of $33.35 billion, representing 17 percent of the total volume and 27 percent of the total value, respectively.

2014 Key Trends

  • Total transaction volume in 2014 increased by 14 percent over 2013, from 1,621 to 1,840.
  • Total transaction value in 2014 rose by 36 percent over 2013, from $88.32 billion to $120.18 billion.
  • The median revenue multiple saw an uptick from 2.3x in 2013 to 2.6x in 2014. The median EBITDA multiple moved slightly from 11.7x in 2013 to 12.0x in 2014.

M&A Market Overview

Berkery Noyes tracked 5,026 Software transactions between 2012 and 2014, of which 1,307 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate value to be $209.43 billion. Based on known transaction values, we project values of 3,719 undisclosed transactions to be $63.52 billion, totaling $272.95 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past three years.

Disclosed median enterprise value multiples for all segments combined in this report during the last 36 months were 2.4x revenue and 11.5x EBITDA.

The most active acquirer in the Infrastructure Software segment over the past 36 months, either directly or through an affiliated business, was EMC with 24 transactions. The largest of these deals was the acquisition of Nicira, Inc., a software defined networking (SDN) and network virtualization company, for $1.26 billion in 2012.