When will the highly anticipated revival in the merger and acquisition market take place? How much longer will venture capital and PE firms with aging portfolio assets have to wait before strategic investors are ready and willing to buy them?
These questions have been asked repeatedly since the 2007 financial crisis cast a pall over global M&A deal-making. Judging from the data, the wait for a substantial turnaround will be a little longer yet. Preliminary data released by Thomson Reuters (publisher of peHUB Canada) last week show that worldwide M&A activity in the first half of 2013 totaled US$979 billion, down 9% from the first half of last year. In fact, it was the slowest year-to-date period for international transactions since 2009.
The situation is, of course, much the same in Canada’s M&A market. In the first three months of the year, Crosbie & Co. reports that deal-making fell back to 2009 levels. This followed mixed results for 2012 as a whole, when transactions were fewer compared to 2011, but attracted higher values – a total of $183.4 billion, up 15% year over year.
Colin W. Walker, managing director at Crosbie, in a news release cites “macro-economic uncertainty” as one of the chief “culprits” behind softer M&A conditions in early 2013.Read more
Colin W. Walker has extensive experience in the full range of Crosbie's investment banking and direct investing activities. For over 20 years, he has played a leading role in numerous transactions including acquisitions, divestitures, financings, restructurings and financial opinions. Additionally, he managed the firm's initiative as Investment Advisor and Portfolio Manager to First Ontario Fund and has been a Director of a number of private and public companies, as well as Director of the Toronto Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association. He joined Crosbie from UBS Canada where he managed relationships and structured transactions for a diverse range of mid-market and corporate clients. He holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering & Management degree from McMaster University and an MBA from the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business.
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