After a recent falloff, it looks like the cleantech sector is showing signs of a turnaround. The Cleantech Group, a provider of global market research, events and advisory services for the cleantech sector, along with Deloitte, released preliminary second-quarter results for
clean technology venture investments in North America, Europe, China and India, which totaled $1.2 billion across 94 companies. Brian Fan, senior director of research at Cleantech Group, said:
Cleantech venture investment has rebounded moderately after free-falling for two consecutive quarters. We are seeing initial signs of recovery in other cleantech asset classes, including recent activity in solar tax equity, increased M&A levels, as well as billions in government stimulus that are being allocated globally to the cleantech sector over the next several quarters.Results showed cleantech M&A totaled about 138 transactions in the second-quarter 2009, of which totals were disclosed for 40 transactions totaling $12.2 billion. That's up 291% from the first-quarter 2009, which had 123 M&A transactions, of which 28 were disclosed for a total of $3.1 billion.
There's a lot of action in the sector of late, what with General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC retooling their manufacturing operations to offer energy-efficient vehicles and President Obama pushing for energy reform. Jeffrey McDermott, former joint global head of investment banking at UBS, is hoping to benefit from activity in the sector. He
just launched Greentech Capital Advisors LLC in New York, the only alternative energy- and cleantech-focused investment bank. The firm covers the project finance, private equity, and mergers and acquisitions markets.
McDermott says alternative energy and cleantech companies are going to need bankers with strong relationships with large industrial, power and utility companies who are the ultimate customers, strategic partners and consolidators for these companies.
Interestingly enough, The New York Times' DealBook
notes McDermott left UBS in 2007 to form a private equity firm focused on buying and turning around distressed industrial businesses. While the strategy appeared right for the times, the credit crunch made fundraising all but impossible. Now he's hoping to capitalize on dealmaking in this burgeoning sector. -
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