Shades of dotcom bubble in M&A boom

December 21 - Telegraph UK - The total value of takeovers across the world has reached $3,611bn this year, higher than during the dotcom bubble, according to new figures. Goldman Sachs led the charge in the record year of mergers and acquisitions, working on more than a quarter of all deals done, according to data provider Thomson Financial. Read More.

M&A: An Irresistible Urge To Merge

December 19 - BusinessWeek.com - The dealmakers will be working double time in '07, and in virtually every sector. For dealmakers, life hasn't been this good in years. Companies awash in cash and blessed with a benevolent economy, along with private equity players whose piles of capital keep growing, are driving mergers and acquisitions to new records, eclipsing much of the blockbuster action at the turn of the century. Read More.

M&A Will Set a Record in 2007 So Long as Goldilocks Economy Continues

Healthcare, Media, Financial Services, Energy and Telecom Sectors to Fuel Activity

December 13 - PRNewswire - On the heels of a sweeping wave of fourth quarter deal activity that could make 2006 a record year for M&A, the Transaction Services group of PricewaterhouseCoopers believes 2007 could set a new record for deal volume with both strategic buyers and private equity firms expected to further accelerate activity. According to Thomson Financial, deals involving US companies announced through November 2006 totaled $1.3 trillion compared with $1.2 trillion for all of last year, and $2.0 trillion in 1999, which holds the current record for deal value and volume. The number of deals exceeding $10 billion is about the same as it was in 2000. Read More.

Companies Increasingly Use Cash for M&A

December 8 - MSN Money - Cash is king for U.S. companies looking to buy out a rival these days. The past five years have seen a steady rise in the number of companies using cash instead of stock to make acquisitions. Behind this increase companies having amassed large cash stockpiles due to a big runup in the stock market and more than two years of double-digit profit growth. Read More.

Bankers See Tech M&A Boom Ahead

December 8 - RedHerring.com - The party isn’t over, say investment bankers who forecast in a new survey that the volume of tech deals in 2007 will outstrip this year’s strong showing. In a survey released Thursday by New York-based 451 Group, 84 percent of senior investment bankers said the deals in their pipelines were running higher than at the same time last year. Read More.

Medium sized M&A deals create more long-term value

December 7 - Scotsman.com - The current merger and acquisition (M&A) boom is creating shareholder value but mainly for medium-sized deals, according to research by the Cass Business School and global consultancy firm, Towers Perrin. Read More.

Japan to see rise in M&A activity next year - Mergermarket

December 12 - Forbes.com - There could be an increase in takeover activity in Japan next year as the economy strengthens, but red tape and resistance to hostile bids remain obstacles, according to the results of a survey by Mergermarket, a UK firm that disseminates information about mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Read More.

Let's make a deal: M&A activity on track to hit record this year

If 2006 doesn't end up as the year of the deal in the USA, it won't be for lack of effort on Wall Street's part.

Monday, Bank of New York said it is paying $16.5 billion for Mellon Financial, and LSI Logic said it is buying chipmaker Agere for $4 billion. Read More.

M&A activity sets record in 3rd quarter

Canadian mergers and acquisitions totalled $90.3-billion in the third quarter, beating a quarterly record hit at the peak of the technology boom, Crosbie & Co. Inc. says.

In its quarterly report on Canadian M&A activity, the Toronto-based investment bank said the third-quarter total eclipsed the previous record of $79.1-billion set in the second quarter of 2000. It surpassed the $68.9-billion of deals in this year's second quarter, and was almost double the $53.7-billion in third quarter of 2005. Read More.

Robust economic growth in 2007 to boost UK mergers and acquisitions

November 13 - FXStreet.com - Economic growth in the UK has been estimated at 2.8% in the 12 months to Q3 2006 - this compares with growth of just 1.9% during 2005 as a whole. A buoyant world economy, a stronger housing market, positive real earnings growth, rising employment and relatively low short and long term interest rates seem to be the main factors that account for the pick up in UK economic activity. Our 2007 UK outlook is for a continuation of this economic performance, with manufacturing output boosting growth and helping to rebalance the economy away from its reliance on consumer and government spending. Read More.

Merrill, Greenhill bankers see M&A boom

November 13 - Reuters - Top investment bankers at Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. and Greenhill & Co. Inc. said on Monday that they expect mergers and acquisitions to continue at their near-record pace. In fact, Merrill Lynch's head of investment banking said that activity may be on track to beat the volume of deals in 2000, which set a record. Read More.

Near 'perfect storm' drives Canada's M&A activity

Restructuring and consolidation are playing heavily on the Canadian business landscape, according to a report by RBC Economics.

Businesses are responding to global pressures and competition by merging and acquiring business lines to boost productivity and competitiveness. Read More.

The Dark Side of the M&A Boom

Earlier this year, buyout giants Kohlberg Kravis Roberts struck an agreement for a $33 billion leveraged buyout of hospital company HCA. The deal is the largest buyout ever, eclipsing KKR's record purchase of RJR Nabisco in 1988. That deal was worth $31.4 billion, including debt.

The HCA deal was hardly an anomaly. This year has broken 2000's record for private-equity fundraising, according to industry newsletter Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst and it isn't even over. U.S. private-equity funds have raised $177.89 billion in 2006 to date. Read More.

CEO Council session focuses on hot M&A market

For companies looking to jump into mergers and acquisitions, the time is right -- but they won't be alone. The best mergers and acquisitions market is the best in the United States and globally since 2000, said John H. Hill Jr., senior managing director with Hyde Park Capital Partners LLC in Tampa before an audience of 100 at the CEO Council of Tampa Bay's monthly breakfast series in Tampa. Read More.

CEOs more confident in Q4, see more M&A -survey

November 2 - Reuters - Company bosses are more confident about the global business outlook than they were in the gloomy third quarter, and a rising number see even more mergers and acquisitions ahead, a survey of chief executives showed on Thursday.

The latest quarterly poll of chief executives in the United States and Europe, conducted by investment firm Goldman Sachs, showed some of the biggest gains in optimism in the survey's four-year history. Read More.

Canada envisions more energy deals

November 2 - TheDeal.com - An about-face by the Canadian government could boost M&A activity in Canada's already deal-frenzied energy sector.

That was the prediction Wednesday, Nov. 1, after Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced late the day before that the federal government will begin applying corporate taxes to income trusts by 2011.

The trusts have been exempt from most corporate taxes provided they pay out most of their income. The tax advantages had prompted many Canadian companies to convert into trust, and Canadian banks and law firms had marketed the structure heavily to U.S. companies. Read More (subscription required).

S&P expects robust oil, gas merger activity to continue

October 30 - Platts Commodity News - Merger and acquisition activity in the US oil and gas industry will continue to be robust, despite recent low commodity prices, Standard & Poor's Rating Services said.

The ratings company said the declining asset pool, "along with the incentive to maximize returns while markets remain strong, are additional industry drivers," in a report called "Ratings Roundup: For US oil and gas, M&A and softer prices could pressure sector ratings."

Oil and especially natural gas prices have decreased nearly 60% from the start of 2006, and "could pressure credit quality," S&P said.

"High-yield energy and production companies, which typically have high cost structures, limited liquidity, and are often weighted to natural gas, could be at risk if the trend is prolonged," it added.

The energy and production industry "appears solid," although not as active as many participants had planned at the beginning of 2006, said S&P's Paul Harvey. The result could be reduced spending in 2007, if commodity prices continue to show softness, he added.
But Harvey said that given the generally favorable industry outlook, solid forward pricing, and the desire for rapid growth, "robust M&A activity is likely to continue." In addition, acquisitions will remain a key growth engine for the remainder of 2006, and possibly into 2007, he said.

Decimation of large caps by mergers shifts focus to small caps

October 30 - Montreal Gazette - More than 1,200 smaller firms often are under-owned or under-followed by analysts. A combination of mergers and acquisitions plus foreign takeovers during the past year is decimating the market for Canadian large capitalization companies, turning the investor spotlight onto Canadian small caps. Read More.

Strong deal teams/processes = captured synergies

October 18 - Deal-makers, executives, and objective market data agree that many deals fail to deliver expected synergies or value. Reasons vary widely. Sometimes companies enter a deal with unrealistic expectations. Other times complexity runs amok, and management of the deal-making process spirals beyond effective control. Success of defensively or competitively motivated acquisitions can be hard to measure. And, as veteran deal-makers know, a major transaction is a huge distraction. Unprepared, some companies let focus on integration drift in deference to critical day-to-day operations.

A 2006 KPMG/Stanford University M&A forum indicates that strategic players continue to refine their deal-making processes and review the roles and composition of their corporate development departments. Companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and Sun Microsystems are among those setting new measures to continually improve their transaction processes.

While deal success relies on many factors, research into the leading practices of corporate development groups indicates a strong correlation between a common set of core principles and the statistical probability of achieving transaction success.

Another recent KPMG survey of over 200 Fortune 500 and equivalent companies headquartered in North America and Europe finds those companies with the most successful deal records – those that meet or exceed 75% of their projected transaction synergies – share similar team compositions, deal-making structures and transaction processes. These processes are captured in the following guiding principles.

Balance Roles and Responsibility
Balance is elusive in any corporate endeavor, but nowhere more so than in the inherently disruptive deal management process. Companies that involve corporate development and business-unit personnel evenly during the deal process are 20 percent more likely to achieve deal success than those that involve either group disproportionately. Similarly, companies that retain corporate development involvement throughout the integration are more likely to meet milestones than those in which such personnel are less involved.

Involve Senior Staff
Today’s corporate development departments have a disproportionate balance of junior to senior staff. With deals reliant on timeliness and accuracy, inconsistent results born of inexperience can be costly. Survey data indicates that those companies involving a higher ratio of vice presidents and executives are 20 percent more likely to execute a successful transaction than those comprised largely of analysts and managers.

Leverage Transaction Expertise with Rotations
With M&A now a core process in virtually every industry, successful companies are nurturing a broad base of transaction experience. These companies recruit talent into their corporate development departments, and then rotate them over time into other functions. Management can then tap those employees’ transactions experience if a deal later arises that affects their respective business units. Survey results suggest such rotations help companies achieve greater transaction success.

Oversight Confers Advantage
With complexity rife in any major transaction, corporate development departments are adding structure and oversight to their deal-making processes. Leading companies are making greater use of hurdles and checkpoints to clarify and codify specific phases of a deal. Transaction committees that receive a steady level of corporate oversight are 40 percent more likely to be successful than those who receive too little monitoring or too much hand-holding.

Start Early
Leading corporate development groups recognize that transaction preparation begins very early. Once the strategy committee signs off on the company’s acquisition policies and objectives, the best start crafting internal decision-making documents. The benefit is that corporate development groups then have defined ‘fit characteristics’ with which to select and measure a given target. This focuses time and resources more effectively once a deal does come in the door.

Enlist Corporate Development Support in Estimating Deal Finances
It is important to maximize business unit involvement during the due diligence stage, but the corporate development department should play a central role in preparing financial estimates and forecasts. Companies that use the corporate development department to quantify projected synergies observe higher rates of deal success than those that rely solely on business units or other divisions.

Find the Experts
Where deals are in strategic areas or where the industry or subject matter is technical, leading companies go straight to the experts. Business unit and functional specialists internal to the company can help corporate development departments screen the acquisition target and evaluate the strength of the assets at stake. These experts can form part of the transaction team, and assist with integration planning. External advisors also play a role. Companies that engage consultants, accountants and bankers are more likely to achieve transaction success than those who rely solely on internal resources.

In the end, increased corporate development group involvement is a best practice statistically shown to improve the likelihood of a successful transaction. — Richard Hanley

Richard Hanley is the KPMG Transaction Services Co-Global Lead for the Electronics, Software and Services sector and head of KPMG’s Transaction Services Group in Silicon Valley.

Global Wind Energy Market is Growing Faster Than Other Renewable Energy Markets

October 26 - Business Wire - Research and Markets has announced the addition of “Global Wind Energy Market (2006)” to their offering. Wind energy is among the one of the most effective renewable energy technology to meet the environmental challenges & rising global energy demand. The "Global Wind Energy Market (2006)” report provides research and objective analysis on Global wind energy Industry. This report helps clients to analyze the opportunities, factors critical to the success & potential markets for wind energy. Read More.

Global Technology M&A Deal Value Already Surpasses 2005 Total by $20 Billion, Innovation Advisors Reports

October 16 - Business Wire - Mergers-and-acquisitions activity in the global technology sector already has eclipsed the total deal value for all of 2005 by $20 billion, according to an Innovation Advisors study released today. The investment banking firm serving middle-market technology companies projects that 2006 will be the most active year for technology M&A since the golden days of 2000 – before the dot.com bust. Read More.

The transaction strategy needs to look beyond expected synergies

October 12 - FT.com - Many M&As that look promising on paper fail because they are unable to win the full support of managers. To avoid such failures, Philippe Haspeslagh argues that companies need to develop a clear acquisition strategy and a transparent and fair process for examining it. Read More.

Private Equity Keeps Booming

October 8 - BusinessWeek.com - The latest boom in private equity is more proof, should anyone need it, that the rich keep getting richer. Global mergers and acquisitions by financial sponsors, or private buyout groups, hit $570 billion during the first nine months of the year, up 51% from the prior record set during the first nine months of 2005, according to market researcher Dealogic. Read More.

The right price is key to a good transaction

September 28 - FT.com - Consider the following facts. Over the last three years, in the US, leading institutional investors have spent $500bn on buying out companies, according to data published by Thomson Venture Economics. If 60 per cent is an acceptable level of financial leverage, then these investors have a purchasing power of over $1,000bn. Read More.

Studying M&A targets

October 5 - FT.com - Almost every significant research study argues that acquiring companies lose value for their shareholders when they attempt takeovers. The pain associated with merger activity is well-documented: acquirers see their share prices fall when deals are announced, whereas target company shares rise in value through the purchase premium; and “strategic synergies” mean lost jobs in both companies. Read More.

Which Energy Firms Will Get Taken Out?

October 5 - Barron's Online - With the rising price tag for finding oil and gas along with the difficulty at getting it out of the ground, smaller exploration companies have their hands tied. But larger energy players can buy reserves to grow. And they still have access to cheap capital.

Despite near-term uncertainty created by the big drops in oil and natural-gas prices, this year could rival the more than $160 billion spent worldwide last year on energy mergers and acquisitions. Read More.

Florida M&A demand to grow

September 20 - South Florida Business Journal - A founder and managing director at a Miami investment banking firm has predicted intensified merger and acquisition activity and increased middle-market globalization. Barry Steiner, of Miami-based Capitalink, L.C., said his predictions are fueled by increased borrowing capabilities, more international business activity due to a weakened U.S. dollar and the growth of emerging markets. Steiner, who made his points during a statewide phone conference, Tuesday, with members of the Florida Bar Association, also said low interest rates, increased lender competition and growing interest from private equity groups have created a sellers market among mid-size businesses. Read More.

Private equity firms raise record cash in 2006

October 4 - Reuters - Private equity firms have raised a whopping $300 billion in new funding worldwide this year, easily topping the amount raised for all 2005 and with several mega funds still open, new research shows.

A string of mega fund raisings from some of the world's biggest private equity firms -- including Permira, The Blackstone Group and Cinven - has helped push 2006 to record volumes, already 6 percent higher than all of 2005, when a record $283 billion was raised. Read More.

Business Outlook Survey - U.S. CFOs see trouble ahead

October 1 - CFO.com - Optimism among CFOs has hit its lowest point since the last recession, according to the latest Duke University/CFO Business Outlook Survey. Just 20 percent of finance chiefs are more optimistic about the direction of the U.S. economy, down from last quarter, when 24 percent had a positive outlook. Almost half of those surveyed say they are more pessimistic about the future direction of the U.S. economy. Read More.

Buyouts Keep Getting Bigger As Private Equity Firms Rush To Invest Billions Pouring Into New Funds

October 2006 - Global Finance - The four-year-old boom in private equity investing reached a feverish pitch this summer as firms awash with cash hurried to put some of it to work in corporate takeovers and billions of dollars more poured into newly raised buyout funds.

In the biggest leveraged buyout ever, three private equity firms agreed in late July to take Nashville, Tennessee-based hospital operator HCA private for $21.3 billion of cash and the assumption of $11.7 billion in debt, or a total value of $33 billion. The investor group was made up of Boston-based Bain Capital; Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, or KKR; and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity; along with Thomas F. Frist, HCA’s founder. The previous record LBO was the $25 billion buyout of RJR Nabisco in 1989. Read More.

Defense, aerospace sectors look strong

October 5 - Associated Press - The aerospace industry has more than two years of growth ahead and while defense contractors face a less certain future, the Pentagon's spending outlook is more favorable than previously thought, Bank of America said Thursday in an analyst note.

It will be more than two years until the aerospace industry encounters a "cyclical downturn," and while Bank of America said it maintained its "Neutral" sector stance on defense, "we are more positively inclined," due to expectations of a larger fiscal 2007 supplemental spending bill, and 4 percent to 5 percent core budget growth over the next two years.

Instead of an 8 percent decline to $107 billion in 2007 supplemental funding, Bank of America now expects an 8 percent increase to $130 billion, with $70 billion already appropriated and $60 billion likely to be requested in February or March.

"Earnings growth into 2008 could turn out to be more healthy than we are currently forecasting, particularly for Army-related contractors," according to the note. But since defense stocks already have done well this year, "we may see some profit taking as we approach the midterm elections."

That potential profit-taking could create buying opportunities for General Dynamics Corp., Oshkosh Truck Corp. and Alliant Techsystems Inc., according to Bank of America.

In afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of General Dynamics dipped 43 cents to $74.37, while Oshkosh added 84 cents to $54.24 and Alliant slid 17 cents to $81.90.

U.S. business optimism down on energy prices

October 5 - Reuters - Optimism about the health of the U.S. economy is down among the nation's small to mid-sized businesses as they have been hit with higher energy prices, a survey on Thursday showed.

PNC Financial Services Group's semiannual survey of small and middle-market business owners showed a third of the 501 respondents were not at all optimistic about the economy going forward. That compares to 23 percent surveyed in April. Read More.

Companies Are Primed For Deals, CFO’s Say

September 29 - NY Times - Morgan Stanley’s annual survey of chief financial officers suggests that companies are getting much more bullish about mergers and acquisitions going into 2007. However, they will face stiff — and maybe insurmountable — competition from financial investors as they seek out takeover targets, according to Henry McVey, Morgan Stanley’s chief U.S. investment strategist. Read More.

M&A Roundup from CFO.com (9/28)

September 28 - CFO.com - E.ON and Acciona and Endesa; Volkswagen and MAN and Scania; Vivdeni Universal and Deutsche Telekom and Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa; Barrick Gold and NovaGold Resources; UCB and Schwarz Pharma; CVRD and Inco; Univision and private investors. Read More.

Bill to tighten foreign takeovers stalls

September 29 - Reuters - Legislation to tighten rules on approving foreign takeovers of American companies has stalled in the U.S. Congress until after the November elections, House and Senate lawmakers said on Friday. Read More.

Russia's Energy Titans Prepare for Acquisitions

October 2 - Dow Jones Newswires - Russia's state-controlled energy giants are gearing up for a new round of acquisitions that could give the Kremlin ownership of nearly half the country's oil production, the highest level since privatization of the Soviet industry began more than a decade ago. Read More.

China Introduces New M&A Rules To Regulate Foreign Investment

September 11 - The Wall Street Journal - Chinese regulators introduced merger-and-acquisition rules that are targeting not just foreign investors but also Chinese companies incorporated overseas.

The regulators said the rules, which took effect Friday, aim to "promote and regulate foreign investment in China."

Merger-and-acquisition experts said the rules also might help to crack down on false inflows made through overseas companies set up by Chinese investors. Such inflows help fuel inflation and hinder Beijing's efforts to curb overly rapid investment growth that some economists fear could cause the economy to overheat, analysts said.

Chinese investors sometimes set up offshore vehicles to make their investments at home in order to enjoy tax and other benefits accorded to foreign companies in China.

Investment inflows from such companies account for about one-third of China's total foreign direct investment, estimates Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce. FDI in China totaled $72.4 billion last year, according to revised data from the Commerce Ministry, up from just above $60 billion in 2004.

"The [revised] rules can help to clear up false foreign direct investment" as well as prevent embezzlement of domestic assets, Mr. Mei said.

The new rules require that Chinese companies incorporated overseas get approval from the Commerce Ministry for any M&A activity in China, just like other foreign investors. Previously, M&A activities by these companies needed approval only from local governments.

China Halts Brokerage Expansion, Thwarts Wall Street

September 14 - Bloomberg.com - China halted sales of domestic brokerages to international firms, thwarting plans by companies including Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. to increase trading in the world's fastest-growing stock market. Read More.

M&A Roundup from CFO.com (9/14)

September 14 - CFO.com - Chevron and Cnooc and PetroChina and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp.; General Electric and Apollo Management; Canadian Natural Resources Limited and Anadarko Canada; Actavis and Barr Pharmaceuticals and Pliva; and more. Read More.

China talks of eventual currency shift ahead of G7

September 15 - Reuters - China, accused by critics of keeping its currency artificially weak for economic gain, said on Friday it would ease its grip on the yuan at some stage, but it remained coy about when. Before a meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized powers on Saturday, Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan did not offer a timeframe but said his country at some point would allow for a wider band in which the yuan, or renminbi, could trade against major currencies. Read More.

EU plans to ease banking mergers

September 12 - BBC - The European Commission has unveiled plans aimed at facilitating cross-border mergers between banks. Existing rules allow member states to block proposals if they think a merger threatens the target firm, but the EU says the rules are prone to abuse. Read More.

M&A Roundup from CFO.com

August 31 - CFO.com - Goldcorp and Glamis Gold; Russian Aluminum and Sual Group and Glencore International; Alcatel and Lucent; Inco and Phelps Dodge and CVRD; Kinder Morgan and Richard Kinder and investors; Unilever and Permira Funds; Western Refining and Giant Industries. Read More.

Goldman, Lehman had worst Q3 banking drops

August 30 - Reuters.com - Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. suffered the biggest declines in equities underwriting and announced mergers and acquisitions activity during the fiscal third quarter, according to Dealogic data. Read More.

Menzies goes on buying spree despite fall in profits

September 5 - Scotsman.com - JOHN Menzies, the Capital-based logistics and aviation company, today announced a further two acquisitions as it unveiled a drop in first-half profits. Read More.

Could The Chip Industry See A Buyout Wave?

August 14 - Tech Trader Daily - Could the chip industry be ripe for a wave of private-equity financed buyouts? That’s a question addressed this morning in a research report by Merrill Lynch’s Joe Osha. He says the buyout of Philips Semiconductor by KKR and Silver Lake “indicates to us that private equity firms may now be comfortable in a sector that they’ve avoided in the past. We note that the valuation paid for Philips was in excess of what the market was paying at the time for Freescale, a comparable company much further along in the rationalization process.” Read More.

M&A Roundup from CFO.com

August 10 - CFO.com - Sears Holdings and Sears Canada; Universal Computer Systems and Reynolds and Reynolds; Aramark Corp. and Joseph Neubauer and investors; AmerisourceBergen Corp. and Kindred Healthcare Inc.; CommScope Inc. and Andrew Corp.; and more. Read More.

Habits of the busiest acquirers

July 2006 - The McKinsey Quarterly - A thin line divides the kind of merger that nurtures a company's growth from one that destroys value. No surprise, then, that M&A practitioners go to great lengths to tilt the odds in their favor. They hire world-class M&A teams, modify the organizational design of their companies, or add systems, tools, and processes to smooth integration and to accelerate the capture of synergies. Yet a merger's performance over time is subject to so many variables that it's difficult to analyze whether such moves really work. Read More.

M&A Roundup from CFO.com

August 3 - CFO.com - Ford Motor Co.; ADP; Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Silver Lake Partners and Philips Electronics; Verizon and Vodafone; Phelps Dodge, Inco, Falconbridge and Teck Cominco; Telenor and Mobi 63; Comcast, Time Warner and Adelphia; and more. Read More.

Scots Turn From Prey to Predators

July 30 - scotsman.com - Scotland's companies have defied the trend in acquisitions, with more companies north of the Border now taking over firms elsewhere rather than the other way round.

Scots firms spent £4.9bn on 53 acquisitions in the first half of 2006, while 51 Scottish companies were acquired for £3.6bn. Read More.

Mergers and Acquisitions Continue as Companies Seek Strategic Growth and Cost Reduction within the Oil and Natural Gas Sector

August 1 - OilandGasStockNews.com - M&A activity is not new for the oil and gas industry, especially with the increased emphasis on building domestic oil and gas supplies to encourage energy independence. Mergers and acquisitions enable companies to increase their scale, reduce costs, as well as improve their access to capital, equipment, valuable labor and expertise, which in turn leads ideally to increased production levels. These factors have led many industry participants, from small cap to large cap, to discover growth opportunities from both inside and outside of M&A transactions as they work to increase shareholder value. Read More.

Citigroup planning $3.5b fund for buyouts

August 2 - Boston Globe - Citigroup Inc.'s private-equity unit is raising a $3.5 billion fund to help finance acquisitions by leveraged buyout firms, said a person with direct knowledge of the effort.

Citigroup Alternative Investments has gathered about $2 billion from the bank and employees, said the person, who declined to be identified because the fund hasn't been completed. Read More.

Studies: Deal Mania Will Continue

July 17 - CFO.com - Private equity represented 30 percent of U.S. deal value in the second quarter, a level not seen in over 10 years.

Thanks to record cash levels at corporations and private equity firms, plenty of available financing, and historically low levels of distressed debt, merger and acquisition activity remains at a six year high, according to a new study from the Transaction Services Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Read More.

M&A Roundup from CFO.com

July 21 - CFO.com - Xstrata and Flaconbridge; Ashtead and NationsRent Cos.; BMG, EMI, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Universal, Warner Music, Viacom and GTCR Golder Rauner; BMG and Sony Music; New York Observer and Tribeca Enterprises; and more. Read More.

Will 2008 election spur media deals?

July 15 - Reuters - Big media deals and strict regulation don't mix well. But will the fear of potential change in control of the White House in 2008 spur mergers and acquisitions before then?

That's the question some Washington watchers and bankers are considering as they look beyond this fall's congressional elections to the next presidential contest. Read More.

Is It Deal Time Again in the Oil Patch?

July 16 - NY Times - WHEN Anadarko Petroleum announced last month that it would pay $21 billion to acquire Kerr-McGee and Western Gas Resources, shares of other domestic oil and gas producers climbed. Anadarko offered an overall premium of more than 40 percent above market price for the companies — suggesting to many investors that other drillers were undervalued and that more deals were in the offing. Read More.

Anadarko Petroleum deals top M&A list for the first half of 2006

July 14 - Houston Business Journal - Anadarko Petroleum Corp. leads the list of top mergers and acquisitions during the first quarter of 2006 with two transactions in the top three deals involving Houston companies reported by FactSet Mergerstat LLC. Read More.

Ex-Editor in Chief of Time Inc. Joining Carlyle Equity Group

June 18 - NY Times - The former editor in chief of Time Inc., Norman Pearlstine, will join the Carlyle Group, the private equity group, as a senior adviser on media and telecommunications acquisitions, the firm said yesterday. Read More.

M&A Roundup from CFO.com

July 14 - CFO.com - Sony BMG; Bell Globemedia and Chum; Aviva and AmerUs Group; Comcast, Time Warner and Adelphia Communications; PCCW and Francis Leung; Xstrata and Falconbridge; Shanghai Automotive and SAIC Motor Company. Read More.

European Mid-Market M&A outlook

June 13 - mergermarket.com - This is the first edition of the European Mid-Market M&A Outlook, published by mergermarket in association with KPMG.
This report includes the survey of senior executives within mid-market corporates, private equity firms and fund managers in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K., canvassing their expectations for the market and their own strategic plans and objectives.

Table of Contents

• Key insights
• Introduction
• The market
• Drivers
• Constraints
• National differences
• Methodology

Read More

Earnings Preview: Banks Bolstered by M&A

July 14 - NEW YORK (AP) - Major U.S. Banks Seen Posting Strong Second Quarter on Robust M&A Activity. Investment banks are primed to report strong second-quarter results this month, buoyed by a surge in merger and acquisition activity that reached near record levels. For the major diversified financial companies, a banner period for investment banking and other fee-based businesses is expected to offset a sluggish period for retail operations. Read More.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Forecast: M&A Will Remain Strong Through 2006, But Could Peak Thereafter

July 13 - PRNewswire - Cash remains at record levels and economic numbers are good, but some wonder if the market is ready for a breather. M&A activity remains at a six year high, according to the Transaction Services group of PricewaterhouseCoopers, buoyed by record cash levels at corporations and private equity firms, plentiful financing and historically low levels of troubled commercial debt. Read More.