1ST HALF 2017 KEY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Blackstone Group and Thoma Bravo combined were responsible for five of the Information Industry’s top ten highest value transactions year-to-date.
  • Along these lines, Blackstone announced its acquisition of Aon’s technology-enabled and human resources platform for $4.3 billion; Blackstone joined forces with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) to acquire Ascend Learning, which offers educational content and online tools for students, educational institutions and employers, with a particular focus on healthcare and other licensure-driven occupations, for $2 billion; Blackstone acquired SESAC, a music rights organization, for $1 billion; Thoma Bravo acquired Lexmark International’s enterprise software business, which is comprised of Kofax, ReadSoft and Perceptive, for $1.35 billion; and Thoma Bravo acquired Planview, which develops project management and workforce collaboration tools, for 800 million.

1ST HALF 2017 KEY TRENDS

  • Total transaction volume in 1st Half 2017 increased 24 percent over 2nd Half 2016, from 323 to 401.
  • Total transaction value in 1st Half 2017 declined by four percent over 2nd Half 2016, from $43.94 billion to $42.19 billion. Overall value gained 87 percent on a year-over-year basis.
  • The median revenue multiple improved from 1.7x in 2nd Half 2016 to 2.0x in 1st Half 2017. The median EBITDA multiple moved slightly from 11.4x in 2nd Half 2016 to 11.0x in 1st Half 2017.

M&A Market Overview

Berkery Noyes tracked 1,736 private equity transactions between 2015 and 1st Half 2017, of which 311 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate transaction value to be $138.38 billion. Based on known transaction values, we project values of 1,425 undisclosed transactions to be $43.86 billion, totaling $182.23 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past two and a half years.

Disclosed median revenue multiple for all segments combined in this report in the last 30 months were 2.1x revenue and 11.4x EBITDA.