1ST HALF 2012 KEY HIGHLIGHTS

  • The largest announced transaction for 1st Half 2012 was BCE, Inc.’s acquisition of Astral Media for $3.34 billion.
  • The most active acquirer in the Media & Marketing Industry was WPP Group, plc with 20 transactions.
  • There were 96 financially sponsored transactions with an aggregate value of $10.67 billion, representing 12 percent of the total volume and 33 percent of the total value, respectively.

1ST HALF 2012 KEY TRENDS

  • Total transaction volume in 1st Half 2012 increased by six percent over 2nd Half 2011, from 784 to 834.
  • Total transaction value in 1st Half 2012 increased by 27 percent over 2nd Half 2011, from $24.88 billion to $31.51 billion.
  • The median revenue multiple declined from 1.8x in 2nd Half 2011 to 1.2x in 1st Half 2012. The median EBITDA multiple fell from 10.0x in 2nd Half 2011 to 7.8x in 1st Half 2012.
  • However, three segments had median revenue multiples of at least 2.0x in 1st Half 2012: B2B Publishing, Broadcasting, and Exhibitions, Conferences, and Seminars.
  • The segment with the largest increase in volume in 1st Half 2012 over 2nd Half 2011 was Exhibitions, Conferences, and Seminars with an 85 percent increase from 20 transactions in 2nd Half 2011 to 37 transactions in 1st Half 2012.

M&A Market Overview

Berkery Noyes tracked 3,683 transactions between 2010 and 1st Half 2012, of which 1,039 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate transaction value to be $106.53 billion. Based on known transaction values, we project values of 2,644 undisclosed transactions to be $30.20 billion, totaling $136.73 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past two and a half years.

Disclosed median enterprise value multiples for all segments combined in this report were 9.4x EBITDA and 1.6x revenue.