2011-02-02 Berkery Noyes Releases 2010 Private Equity in the Information Industry Merger & Acquisition Trends

Berkery Noyes, a leading middle market investment bank, has released its 2010 Private Equity in the Information Industry M&A Trends Report. This report analyzes merger and acquisition activity in 2010 and compares it with activity in the three previous years.

“It’s encouraging that both the number of deals and the value are up from 2009, as are the revenue and EBITDA multiples. I would expect this improvement to continue for the next 2 to 3 years,” said John Shea, Chief Operating Officer of Berkery Noyes.

Large, active financial buyers have focused their acquisitions on adding to existing portfolio companies rather than the acquisition of new, stand alone investments. Indeed, over 80 percent of their transactions have been incorporated into existing investments, where across the acquisition landscape in the information industry, the number has been closer to 60 percent.

Thoma Bravo was the most active financial acquirer in the information industry by volume, with 10 acquisitions: UPS Logistics Technologies, Computer Systems Company, Inc., Hershey Systems, Inc., LANDesk Software, Inc., Beyond Appraisal, Inc., SonicWALL, Inc., Double-Take Software, ManageSoft Corporation, PLATO Learning, Inc. and eWebHealth.