Mergers & Acquisitions: The Dealmaker's Journal articles from August 2008

Mergers & Acquisitions: The Dealmaker's Journal archives from August 2008

Taking a Breather.(Mergers and acquisitions current market situation)(Editorial)
August 1, 2008... I've always preferred the summer to year end as a time to take stock in the M&A market. It's as if the heat forces us to collectively stop for air and reflect on where we are before wiping our brow and taking the next step toward a...

Who's Who.
August 1, 2008... ACG Board 0f Directors Bradley J. Hughes* Acting President and CEO bhughes@acg.org Harris Smith* Chairman hsmith@gt.com Robert Blumenfeld Chapter Representative Director bobby@bpcllc.com Clifford...

Adjusting to the Changing Landscape: Deal pros continue to get a bead on where the market will settle.
August 1, 2008... The markets have been churning of late, leading investors to wonder which side is up. Concerns have been triggered by a plunge in consumer confidence, global inflation worries and speculative oil plays. Some savvy investors are busy...

Save the Date!(Calendar)
August 1, 2008... ACG Denver Networking Made Easy August 5, 2008 Denver, CO www.acg.org/denver ACG Seattle Northwest Growth Financing Conference August 7, 2008 Seattle, WA www.acg.org/seattle ACG Central Texas ...

ACG Capitalizes on CIPEF 2008: ACG's annual Forum with the China Mergers & Acquisition Association proved to be a success.(Association for Corporate Growth)(China International Private Equity Forum)(Conference news)
August 1, 2008... They came from all across China and around the world to Tianjin on June 10 through June 12, 2008 to the second annual China International Private Equity Forum (CIPEF). They came because of the concentration of hundreds of private equity...

Getting What You Paid For: A government market expert shares the pains and rewards of a technology company acquisition.
August 1, 2008... Having been an independent management consultant for the last nine years, I've learned to think twice before agreeing to support a client's acquisition activities. A root canal can be less painful. Still, since acquisitions are often a...

Navigating Lending Landmines in Distressed Market: Lending is unequivocally a subjective process, but lessons can be learned by heeding the advice of others.
August 1, 2008... Short of going to a loan shark, there is no proven method for securing financing of any type for any business regardless of the circumstances. A book published in the mid 90's, a street smart primer on the tactics of business financing titled...

Fair Value Accounting: 141(R) and Environmental Liabilities This month's "Community Commentary" submission looks at how dealmakers should approach environmental liabilities as they prepare for fair value accounting measures to take effect.
August 1, 2008... A newly revised accounting standard that aims to increase the transparency of mergers and acquisitions transactions may up their complexity factor, at least in the short term, as companies struggle to develop procedures for estimating fair...

Distressing Times: ACG members provide feedback on what they're seeing in the market. This month, David Rowley, Jamie Grant, Lowell Wallace and others weigh in on which sectors give distressed investors the most hope.(Association for Corporate Growth)
August 1, 2008... Distressed deals are on the rise. What does it take to succeed in this arena? Are years of experience needed to do well? What sector(s) offer the greatest reward versus the risk right now? Cathedral Partners has noticed an increase in...

What players in the mid market are talking about.(Death Row Records)
August 1, 2008... Maybe Nas was right But even if hip hop isn't dead, as he suggested with the title of his eighth album, he may have been on to something given the genre's recent fall from grace. In the span of one week in June, two rap labels were sold out...

Tomorrow's Deals Taking stock of what dealmakers are looking at.
August 1, 2008... Switching gears After a prolonged ramp-up period in which Nasdaq-listed Agilysys focused on acquisitions, the IT solutions provider is now seeking a possible sale. The company tapped JPMorgan to pursue a range of alternatives, including...

Beltway Monitor.
August 1, 2008... The tax is always greener While U.S. private equity investors are still fretting over the possibility of a tax increase, investors in the Netherlands are threatening to flee the region if the Dutch Parliament greenlights a plan that would...

Polite Conversation: In mid June, Mergers & Acquisitions Journal sponsored a conference in New York, focusing on "Post-Crunch M&A," exploring how dealmakers are staying busy in a down market.(Conference news)
August 1, 2008... "I'd much rather pay 6x for a business and put 50% equity in than pay 8x for a business with just 25% equity." -Dexter Paine, founding partner, Paine & Partners "The financing market is completely different for corporate issuers. If...

Activist Blueprint Torn Up: A recent court decision has activist investors rethinking the use of credit default swaps and also put hedge funds on guard as it relates to wolfpack strategies.(United States. District Court)
August 1, 2008... Activist shareholders were put on guard in June, after a ruling in U.S. District Court threatened to forever alter how hedge funds pursue investments and accumulate positions in target companies. In the decision, stemming from the proxy...

Quick Hits from mergers unleashed.
August 1, 2008... Weather Channel Sold NBC Universal, backed by PE firms Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group, agreed to a deal with Landmark Communications to take over the Weather Channel, the 24-hour television forecaster and Web property. NBC,...

The Ongoing SPAC Evolution: Goldman's effort to change the game for blank-check companies was a flop, but sources anticipate SPAC structures will continue to advance. The Darwinian question, however, remains: Will investors bite?
August 1, 2008... Goldman Sachs fought the inevitable. It twice delayed pricing for the IPO of its debut effort in the blank-check space, but ultimately had to watch as its first crack at a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) fall flat. At first...

Poker for Dummies: The "put up or shut up" laws spreading throughout Europe are forcing suitors in the region to make their intentions known.
August 1, 2008... If anything came out of the Microsoft/Yahoo saga it's that the intentions of a suitor are rarely easy to gauge. The angst for many public entities begins as soon as a bidder lodges a proposal to acquire a company. And given the number of...

Loan-to-Own Opportunities Emerge: As the credit markets wallow, dealmakers with an appetite for distress are expected to seek out acquisitions through a company's debt.
August 1, 2008... Traditional acquirers may see it as a back-door method of gaining control, but as the debt markets continue to wallow, buyers may increasingly turn to loan-to-own strategies as a way to wrest control of troubled companies. It's not...

Buyout Bits from mergers unleashed.
August 1, 2008... Boston Ventures Purchases Oakstone Boston Ventures has purchased Oakstone Publishing from Haights Cross Communications, Inc. Haights Cross Communications is an educational and library publisher dedicated to creating books, audio...

LP Study: Assessing Strategy Drift The difference between strategy drift and adjusting to the market often comes down to a firm's resources and capabilities.
August 1, 2008... In hindsight, the private equity firms that got burned for their bets in the mortgage market probably wish they could have a do over. It's certainly the case that limited partners backing those bets would like a chance for a redo, as...

Staying Outside the Lines? Institutional capital has rarely chased sports deals, although some speculate that investors are taking a renewed look at the space.
August 1, 2008... Institutional money rarely treads across the boundaries separating traditional business from sport. While some of the bigger names in private equity, such as Steve Pagliuca or Tom Hicks, have seen fit to make personal investments in...

Any Port in a Storm: Recession-resistant sectors, such as healthcare, energy and defense, will still attract buyers, although no industry is completely safe today.
August 1, 2008... Distress is easy to find these days. With every passing week this summer, a new retailer either shutters stores or files for bankruptcy. The airlines, meanwhile, can't seem to figure out a business plan that works, as smaller carriers go out...

Standing Out: Top pros discuss how deal terms can help distinquish a buyer from the pack.
August 1, 2008... In Mergers & Acquisitions' latest roundtable, a group of seasoned dealmakers convened in the magazine's New York offices to explore various aspects of the M&A market and the topic of buyer differentiation. Transaction structures, seller...

Drowning? As PE dealmakers digest a dismal first half, some remain optimistic that the market could settle on a bottom.
August 1, 2008... Noticeably absent during the past few years has been the traditional lull in dealmaking that used to accompany the sweltering summer months. This year, however, M&A pros might have more time for the beach if the first-half numbers provide any...

Inspired: It's no secret Elevation Partners' Roger McNamee is into his music. He talks with Mergers & Acquisitions to explain how his hobby shapes his work.
August 1, 2008... Elevation Partners managing director and co-founder Roger McNamee doesn't exactly fit the mold of the typical buyout shop MD. Then again he began his business life as a venture capitalist, which might be where he gets it from - "it," of...

PE Jenga: Private equity firms are being forced to cobble together their own debt syndications, but the good news is that the financing is there if they want it.
August 1, 2008... Private equity firms are taking a much more active role in securing debt financing for acquisitions, illustrating the stiff challenge facing sponsors in the leveraged finance market. At least that was the consensus among a panel of buyout...

Redefining Ebitda: Who knew Ebitda had so many definitions? As deal pros, lenders and companies fight it out in negotiations, the earnings yardstick often gets distorted.
August 1, 2008... Ebitda is used as a measure of a company's cash flow and is instrumental in designing covenants for debt and profitability. A company cannot prink itself up with inflated sales numbers or projected income if measurements of its financial...

IRS to Shine Light on Deferred Comp: The compliance window for the Deferred Compensation Plan is closing soon - and this time the IRS means it.(United States. Internal Revenue Service)(Internal Revenue Code)
August 1, 2008... Private equity firms and their portfolio companies have no further time to postpone reviewing their deferred compensation arrangements. That applies to both those arrangements that they and their employees recognize as deferring compensation...

Bear Diaspora Continues: Senior pros at the former bulge bracket continue to pick up elsewhere, plus other happenings on the M&A hiring front.(briefs)
August 1, 2008... The beat goes on for dealmakers beating a path out of Bear Stearns. Jefferies, Lazard, Evercore, Moelis & Co., Thomas Weisel, CIT Group and BofA were all among those fishing for talent out of the former bulge bracket's implosion and...