Billion-dollar deals have been few and far between over the last couple of months compared to 2006 and even early 2007, and last week was no exception.
Industrial conglomerate Danaher Corp.'s $2.8 billion purchase of Tektronix Inc. was the largest deal for the week ended Oct. 19 and one of only two domestic billion-dollar deals. Meanwhile, only one billion-dollar deal registered on the international front. That pales in comparison to the week ended May 27 when nine of the top 10 domestic deals and all of the top 10 international deals exceeded $1 billion.
So, what's the cause of the slowdown of the billion-dollar deal? “There are still a lot of issues out there. Financing issues, private equity is still on the sidelines ... and there’s still a lot of risk averseness among corporations,” said The Deal's editor in chief Robert Teitelman during a recent appearance on CNBC. “That doesn’t mean it isn’t going to come back ... but right now 'strategics' are just sitting there because they’re just afraid to do a big deal, and that situation has not changed.”
For now, middle-market deals seem to dominate the spectrum of acquisitions. Last week, eight of the 10 biggest domestic deals and nine of the top 10 largest international deals fell in the middle market. — Gerald Magpily
See TheDeal.com: Danaher spends $2.8B on Tektronix
See Deals of the week: Oct. 22, 2007
See CNBC Oct. 8 blog
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