I was able to catch up with John D. Howard, chief executive of Irving Place Capital, at The Deal's M&A Outlook 2009 conference in New York. You can view the complete interview
here, but here are some highlights of particular interest to strategics, especially those who may have assets to sell or businesses to divest.
While deal volume is way down among private equity firms, it's not for a lack of capital. "There was $600 billion in capital raised in the last three years in PE funds around the world. So there's a lot of capital uninvested, sitting on the sidelines," said Howard. "What there is a lack of is leverage."
Irving Place is looking for what Howard called "singular opportunities to generate great returns ... which is difficult to do when you don't have leverage. What we have to look for are deals where we can invest in reasonable multiples, where there's significant opportunities for growth and where we think we can add a lot of value."
Howard said the M&A slump will continue through the first half of 2009, but he predicts middle-market activity will pick up late in the year. - Suzanne Stevens
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