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The opening panel that discussed opportunities and priorities in a sluggish economy at The Deal's Fifth Annual Private Capital Symposium Wednesday seemed to have an upbeat feeling on dealmaking with strategic buyers being active. The session was moderated by assistant managing editor John E. Morris. Panelists included Peter Berger, a managing director at SAC Private Capital, Stephen M. Besen, a partner at Shearman & Sterling, Jonathan Lynch, a managing director at CCMP Capital, and Timothy O'Hara, a managing director and head of the global credit business at Credit Suisse Group. All of the panelists were optimistic that deal opportunities would be plentiful over the next six months to a year, but they recommended that dealmakers look at dealmaking factors in the economy differently. "You are seeing a different set of acquirers because what you are seeing out there, right now, are entrepreneurs and families selling their properties and businesses for liquidity, Jonathan Lynch said. "They are doing it in a negotiated way, but they are still willing to sell." "Deal opportunities are still presenting themselves to us," Berger said. "It is the industries and the growth markets that are different. For instance, in Asia the ability to convince that the money is there and there is a lot of deal flow. So in these environments you have transactions. We also expect to see an uptick in distressed activities," he added. "While everyone is talking about a lot of distress, we are not seeing it," said O'Hara. "There is a lot of capital being raised, and the overall distress is not as high as everyone is saying. We are also expecting to see higher distressed investments in the next six months, especially in the consumer and retail industries." Steven Besen said that although you are not seeing the big transactions of the past year, the expectations of the sellers are different, and strategic buyers are becoming more aggressive. Private equity players that are backing up strategics and pursuing opportunities they cannot afford themselves are having the most success. Besen said: "Strategics have a better shot of acquiring, even though the space is filled with private equity players. You are not seeing the $30 [billion] to $40 billion buyouts, because the buyers expectations are different then the selling, which is why you see a lot of the transactions not closing. Still, you are seeing wide-spread auctions, and strategics are taking advantage of this and becoming more aggressive." - Maria Woehr See Private Capital Symposium agenda See more posts from the Private Capital Symposium CategoriesPrivate capital video
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