Today’s M&A Weekly Digest focuses on why serial acquirers may be interested in your company, why the middle market is king in the acquisition universe, and what to expect of M&A activity in 2012.
The Astonishing Cost of a Bad Hire [Infographic]
February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Your company’s growing rapidly. You need to find someone to help out ASAP, so you conduct a quick round of interviews. You’re not in love with any of the candidates but you feel pressure to hire someone now to take the load off of your staff. What ends up happening? You hire one of those candidates you don’t love. You settle. And it could cost you more than you bargained for.
Career Builder recently surveyed 2,696 hiring managers and human resource professionals to find out more about bad hires – why companies hire subpar employees, how much it actually costs a business and characteristics of less-than-desirable workers.
Business Leaders Expect Great Things in 2012
January 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
As we start 2012, we thought it would be good to gather a few perspectives on what the upcoming year has in store for private business owners. From major corporations to small startups, CEOs expect to see better opportunities in 2012.
Generational Equity Wins 3 M&A Advisor Awards Including M&A Consulting/Advisor Service Firm of the Year
December 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Generational Equity, a leading mergers and acquisitions advisor for privately-held and family-owned businesses, is pleased to announce that The M&A Advisor has recognized Generational Equity with three awards: M&A Consulting/Advisory Service Firm of the Year, Deal of the Decade, and Consumer & Retail Products (Under $50 Million) Transaction of the Year.
The awards were announced at The M&A Advisor’s annual celebration in New York on Monday, Dec. 12, and Tuesday, Dec. 13.
“The award winners represent the best of the M&A industry in 2011 and earned these honors by standing out in a group of very impressive finalists,” said Roger Aguinaldo, CEO and founder of The M&A Advisor.
Hiring Explosion on Horizon for Small Businesses?
September 27, 2011 By 1 Comment
As we are all too painfully aware, most of the economic news we have been hearing recently has been unrelentingly negative. This is especially true of the unemployment data that seems to get reported on unceasingly. Despite all this doom and gloom, data was released in the past few weeks that is fairly positive.
A recent study found that more than 40% of small businesses plan to hire in the next six months.
M&A Weekly Digest – August 26th, 2011
August 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Continuing with our weekly M&A digest, we take a look at the future of private equity’s involvement in M&A activity, how private businesses power the economy, things to consider for business owners that are close to retiring, and why businesses should consider private equity firms as buyers.
Private Equity’s Key Role in Recent Pension Fund Growth
August 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
In the past few weeks, some of the largest pension funds in the U.S. have reported exceptional returns for the past fiscal year. And this is good news for members of the pension funds because after several years of dismal performance, a good year is welcome news indeed.
According to press reports, California’s two giant pensions had tremendous years with post-fiscal-year returns that each topped 20 percent. The $154.3 billion California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), said its 23.1 percent return was “remarkable,” adding that it was its best performance in 25 years. Meanwhile, the $237.5 billion California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) posted a 20.7 percent return, the best since 1997.
In addition, New York’s Common Retirement Fund (NYCRF) has grown to $146.5 billion, “its highest point since markets crashed in 2008,” state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said. The fund, which provides benefits for more than a million state and municipal employees and retirees – generated a 14.6 percent rate of return for the 2010-11 fiscal year, which ended March 30. The fund grew about $6 billion since the end of 2010.
Deal Structure Flexibility Will Help You Sell Your Business
July 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
It was recently announced that WRM America Holdings, a specialty lines property and casualty insurance and risk management holding company, had agreed to acquire the flood insurance business of Fidelity National Financial for $210 million. Fidelity National Financial’s flood and excess flood business – Fidelity National Indemnity Insurance Company (“FNII”) – will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of WRM America.
WRM, a portfolio company of Aquiline Capital Partners, is a new A.M. Best A- rated specialty property and casualty insurance company created by Wright Risk Management, a respected insurance management company. According to the press release:
“The addition of the largest provider of federal flood insurance through the NFIP to the WRM America family of companies is another step in our continued growth as a specialty lines insurance company, is representative of our dedication to current and future public-private partnerships, and considerably increases our fee-for-service offering,” said William Fishlinger, CEO and Chairman of WRM America.”
So here we have another great example of a synergistic acquisition of a private equity firm’s portfolio company. But what got my attention in this transaction was the deal structure.
Private Equity Banks More Capital
July 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
As we have discussed in prior articles, equity funds are currently sitting on a sizable amount of dry powder (dry powder refers to capital raised that is unspent and available for investing purposes). In fact, a few months ago it was reported that equity firms had nearly $500 billion stocked away looking for deals to invest in.
So I find it really interesting that despite already sitting on a significant amount of dry powder, equity firms continue to have little trouble raising additional funds. According to Dow Jones, 201 U.S.-based private equity funds collectively raised $64.7 billion in the first half of the year, a 35% increase in capital committed over the $47.8 billion raised by 225 funds during the first half of 2010.
Betting Big on Heavy Construction
July 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment
It was recently announced that Summit Materials had acquired six companies:
- Elam Construction
- Grand Junction Concrete Pipe
- Fischer Quarries
- B&B Resources
- Triple C Concrete
- Wind River Materials
It always peaks my curiosity when I see a company announce this many acquisitions. So I did a little digging. Turns out that Summit Materials is a “platform company” and was formed by a group of investors, including The Blackstone Group and Silverhawk Capital Partners, in 2009. The goal of the platform company is to acquire companies in the “aggregates and heavy-side building materials sector,” according to Summit’s release.
