Full Year 2008 Private Equity, Information Industry Trends

2008 Key Highlights

  • The largest transaction for 2008 was Bain Capital, Blackstone Group LP and NBC Universal a subsidiary of General Electric Company who acquired The Weather Channel Properties a subsidiary of Landmark Communications, Inc. for $3.50 billion.
  • The segments with the largest disclosed median enterprise value multiples for 2008 was Financial Services & Accounting with 3.8 times revenue.
  • The segment with the largest transaction volume for 2008 was Lifestyle & Entertainment with 30 transactions.

2008 Key Trends

  • Total transaction volume in 2008 decreased by 33 percent over 2007 from 291 in 2007 to 196 in 2008.
  • Total transaction value in 2008 decreased by 78 percent over 2007, from $109.70 billion in 2007 to $23.92 billion in 2008.
  • The segment with largest increase in value in 2008 over 2007 was Health & Pharmaceutics with a 152 percent increase from $1.65 billion in 2007 to $4.16 billion in 2008.

M&A Market Overview

Out of 809 transactions tracked by Berkery, Noyes between 2006 and 2008 we determined the aggregate enterprise values paid for transactions, where the values of 274 were disclosed, to be $186.54 billion. Based on known enterprise values, using a logarithmic scale, we project values of 535 undisclosed transactions to be $59.04 billion for a combined total of $245.58 billion over the past three years.

The segment with the largest disclosed median enterprise value multiples between 2006 and 2008 was Marketing & Advertising with 2.6 times revenue and Travel & Hospitality with 16.5 times EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization).

Berkery, Noyes determined that the nearly one-third of companies sold between 2006 and 2008 received enterprise values between $20 million to $148 million.

Disclosed median enterprise value multiples between 2006 and 2008 for all segments combined in this report was 12.34 times EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) and 2.01 times revenue.