Boston Corporate Finance certainly isn't afraid of clambering out on a market-withered limb. The investment bank predicts flatly in a new report on recent technology M&A that buyout firms will continue making big acquisitions this year despite turmoil in the credit and debt markets. Citing strong growth among tech companies, robust corporate profits and investors' need to deploy capital, BCF says that "we do not believe private equity players will slow down their aggressive acquisition pace in the second half of 2007."
That might well be true in the long-term. PE firms are reloading their war chests, with Fortress Investment Group LLC raising $5 billion, Advent International Corp. scooping up $1.3 billion and Apollo Management LP planning a new $15 billion fund. In tech, meanwhile, PE players are pushing deeper into services and business processing outsourcing, where globalization is driving growth and cross-border deals.
Shorter term, the hefty spreads on a number of buyouts suggest the markets feel less sanguine about the prospects for M&A. —Alain Sherter
See Aug. 3 story from The Deal magazine
See BCF's quarterly technology finance update
See arbitrage situations from TheDeal.com
Tags: private+equity, m&a, mergers
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