Hosted by TripleTree
The sun is beginning to peak through the clouds as positive signs abound in the capital markets. Coming off one of the worst recessions in recent memory, capital markets and M&A activity are steadily improving. After reaching one of the lowest levels in decades at the end of Q1, the later half of 2009 has shown marked improvement with every major index trading at 12-month highs. Technology M&A activity has also seen recent resurgence with $31.8 billion worth of announced acquisitions in Q3, which is double the amount from Q2. In fact, the month of September experienced the highest level of technology M&A spending of any month this year with approximately $22 billion of the total Q3 deal flow. Recent acquisitions have been driven by a host of global acquirers acting opportunistically and seeking high growth assets in the technology sector. In the public markets, this quarter has shown encouraging signs as major indices rose about 10% – 15% and software companies experienced a similar trend.
Through the recent economic turmoil and improvement, a common theme has become an interest in recurring revenue models with high visibility to future results. This remains a point of keen interest driving global M&A and private equity investments. Emerging businesses with these themes – like Software as a Service – continue to be viewed favorably and valuations for these types of businesses continue to trade at a premium.
Moderator:
Brian Klemenhagen, Senior Principal, TripleTree, LLC
Panelists:
Venu Pemmaraju, Investment Director, Intel Capital
Avinoam Nowogrodski, CEO, Clarizen
Seksom Suriyapa, VP, Corporate Development, SuccessFactors