2013-07-15 Berkery Noyes Releases Information Industry M&A Report For Half Year 2013
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NEW YORK — July 15, 2013 — Berkery Noyes, an independent mid-market investment bank, today released its half year 2013 mergers and acquisitions trend report for the Information Industry.
The Information report features companies in the Media and Marketing, Software, and Online and Mobile Industries. It analyzes M&A activity during the first half of 2013 and compares it with the four previous six-month periods from 2011 to 2012.
M&A volume in the Information Industry decreased by less than one percent since second half 2012, from 1,695 to 1,683 transactions. Deal value declined 27 percent, from $89.20 billion in second half 2012 to $64.71 billion in first half 2013. The median revenue multiple over the past six months moved slightly from 1.9x to 2.0x, while the median EBITDA multiple increased from 9.9x to 11.2x. The peak for transaction volume during the past two-and-a-half years occurred in first half 2012, whereas value reached its zenith in first half 2011.
Yahoo! was the most active industry acquirer with 13 transactions in first half 2013. Its targets consisted of Tumblr for $1.10 billion, as well as Xobni Corporation, GhostBird Software, Rondee, PlayerScale, Loki Studios, MileWise, GoPollGo, Astrid, Summly, Jybe, Alike, and Snip.it.
Regarding the three horizontal markets in the report, both the Media and Marketing and Software portions of the Information Industry underwent a slight decline in volume. However, the Online and Mobile component saw volume rise seven percent in first half 2013. The number of deals involving consumer mobile applications increased 28 percent, totaling 64 transactions in first half 2013. As for mobile applications focused on driving assistance and mapping navigation technology, M&A transactions by notable acquirers included Google’s acquisition of Waze and Harman International’s acquisition of iOnRoad Technologies.
Meanwhile, established software companies are making acquisitions with a focus on the cloud. Adobe Systems, after acquiring online social media platform Behance in late 2012 to expand its “Creative Cloud,” made several acquisitions in first half 2013 to further build its cloud model. Along these lines, Adobe acquired mobile software development company Thumb Labs and design agency Ideacodes. Adobe also made a major move to expand its “Marketing Cloud” with the acquisition of Neolane for $600 million.
Furthermore, the enterprise cloud market is continuing to evolve. As moving to the cloud becomes more widespread, companies that facilitate the transition process may prove to be good acquisition candidates. “Utilizing migration software can help with streamlining multiple services and ensuring interoperability,” said James Berkery, Chief Information Officer at Berkery Noyes. “In addition, businesses are looking for new ways to integrate private infrastructures with various public cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS). This is creating demand in the marketplace for innovative brokered solutions, especially ones that can consolidate seemingly disparate sources of information into one centralized big data warehouse.”
A copy of the INFORMATION INDUSTRY M&A REPORT FOR HALF YEAR 2013 is available at the Berkery Noyes website.