Q3 2020 Information Industry Trends

Q3 2020 Key Highlights

Strategic acquisitions represented 79 percent of total volume and 68 percent of total value in the 1st 3 Quarters of 2020.

The industry’s largest transaction in Q3 2020 was Intercontinental Exchange’s announced acquisition of Ellie Mae, a cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry, for $11 billion. Of note, Thoma Bravo acquired Ellie Mae in 2019 for $3.3 billion.

Q3 2020 Key Trends

Total transaction volume in Q3 2020 increased by 18 percent over Q2 2020, from 854 to 1,008.

As for the industry’s horizontal markets on a quarterly basis, Software volume gained 25 percent; Online & Mobile volume improved by 23 percent; and Media & Marketing volume moved upward by ten percent.

Total transaction value rose from $26.3 billion in Q2 2020 to $98.6 billion in Q3 2020.

Multiples & Value Trends

The median revenue multiple from 2019 through the 1st 3 Quarters of 2020 shifted slightly, from 2.6x to 2.4x. This was the same as its 2018 level.

The median EBITDA multiple from 2019 through the 1st 3 Quarters of 2020 remained nearly constant at 12.5x.

Top Ten Deals Through Q3 2020

The top ten deals by value have seen five new additions since our half year report, including three in the Software horizontal. The largest Infrastructure Software deal during the quarter was AVEVA Group’s announced acquisition of OSIsoft, which offers real-time industrial operational data software and services, for $5 billion.

These five transactions, with an aggregate value of $38.1 billion, represented 19 percent of transaction value in the 1st 3 Quarters of 2020 and 39 percent of Q3 2020 transaction value.