The Deal newsweekly, Jan. 28: The anatomy of a cycle (Dealscape)

The Deal newsweekly, Jan. 28: The anatomy of a cycle

[Posted on January 25, 2008 at 5:38 PM]

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Filed under: Advisers | M&A | Private Equity

It's cold outside, the financial world is in disarray, and we're not at Davos. But we've got The Deal to pass the time.

The Deal this week offers some perspective on the end of one economic cycle and the beginning of the next. Vyvyan Tenorio, accompanied by a load of charts and tables, examines how this recently deceased M&A cycle grew, peaked and ended. Her conclusions won't be a surprise -- private equity played a big role in shaping this cycle -- but the numbers are striking, and the pattern is revealing.

Accompanying Tenorio's piece is a searching analysis by David Carey of some of the late-cycle megabuyouts, asking: Will they survive? How bad was it? The answer: There's a lot of debt but a lot of covenant-lites, giving sponsors room to work their way out of the inevitable difficulties. Also in the issue: Rebecca Fannin tells the saga of Chinese search engine, Baidu, Vipal Monga looks at second-tier players in leveraged finance trying to climb the league tables, Paul Whitfield in Paris writes about ArcelorMittal chief Lakshmi Mittal's so-far dashed hopes for greater steel consolidation, and Ron Orol pokes at CFIUS, which vets foreign dealmaking of national security-type companies. In our columns, Richard Morgan writes about old-line media buying digital rivals, Bill McConnell on companies buying banks and Yvette Kantrow on the coverage of that big meeting in Switzerland with the glitterati. Blogos? Davos? Whatever. - Robert Teitelman

See The Deal newsweekly cover story
See The Deal newsweekly buyouts feature
See The Deal newsweekly Baidu feature
See The Deal newsweekly story on second-tier banks
See The Deal newsweekly story on Arcelor
See The Deal newsweekly story on CFIUS
See The Deal newsweekly's Backstory column
See The Deal newsweekly's Rules column
See Media Maneuvers in Dealscape