1st Half 2019 Finance Industry Trends

1ST HALF 2019 KEY HIGHLIGHTS

The largest deal in 1st Half 2019 was FIS’ announced merger with Worldpay Group for $42.9 billion. This was the highest value transaction ever recorded by Berkery Noyes in the Financial Technology and Information Industry.

Five of the top ten deals year-to-date occurred in the Payments segment. This included the three largest acquisitions during the half year period. These five transactions, with a combined value   of $92.43 billion, accounted for 83 percent of the industry’s aggregate value in 1st Half 2019.

1ST HALF 2019 KEY TRENDS

Total transaction volume in 1st Half 2019 increased by eight percent over 2nd Half 2018, from 264 to 284.

Total transaction value in 1st Half 2019 rose more than fivefold over 2nd Half 2018, from $16.71 billion to $111.11 billion. Of note, there were no deals above the $20 billion threshold in all of 2018, compared to three such transactions in 1st Half 2019. 

The median revenue multiple, after rising from 1.8x in 1st Half 2018 to 4.2x in 2nd Half 2018, declined to 3.8x in 1st Half 2019.

M&A MARKET OVERVIEW

Berkery Noyes tracked 1,242 Financial Technology and Information transactions between 2017 and 1st Half 2019, of which 288 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate transaction value to be $185.31 billion. Based on known transaction values, we project values of 954 undisclosed transactions to be $17.64 billion, totaling $202.94 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past two and a half years.

Transactions from 1st Half 2017 to 1st Half 2019 with enterprise values above $80 million received a median revenue multiple of 4.7x, whereas those in the $20-80 million range garnered a median revenue multiple of 2.3x and those in the $10-$20 million range had a median revenue multiple of 1.1x.

Disclosed median enterprise value multiples for all segments combined in this report during the last 30 months were 3.0x revenue and 14.7x EBITDA.