What’s Ahead for the M&A Market in 2012 and Beyond? - Webinar Recap

Jan 17, 2012 - by Joel Lessem

Today we enjoyed an in-depth outlook of the M&A Market in 2012  with Dennis Roberts, author, Chairman and CEO at The McLean Group. His insights into how cross-border deals, technology, healthcare and an aging baby boomer population are affecting the M&A landscape, were invaluable.

Dennis spoke to the impact of new technologies on business, citing that 40% of S&P 500 companies were not there 10 years ago. He also discussed how an aging baby boomer population has accelerated growth in healthcare, pharma and biotech. He also referenced specific data related to the last year, revealing that in 2011,  one in three M&A transactions in the U.S. were cross border deals.

‘Power Industry - Power Play’ a PCE Companies’ Perspective

Dec 2, 2011 - by Mike Rosendahl

America's power sector is at a crossroads. Rising demand for clean forms of power is now juxtaposed against the growing need for inexpensive energy, creating a situation that is increasingly conflicted. Recent economic challenges have made decisions even more difficult for electric power producers. In 2009, electricity generation decreased 4.1 percent, settling at its lowest level since 2003, representing the largest decline in six decades. In addition to the recent economic downturn, expanding environmental policy and increasing prices of certain fuels have forced electric power producers to invest in alternatives to coal such as natural gas. Investment decisions also have been impacted by the recent accident at a nuclear power plant in Japan that, at least temporarily, diminished renewed enthusiasm for nuclear power expansion.

‘Financial Reporting Valuation - The Market Participant’ a PCE Companies’ Perspective

Nov 14, 2011 - by Brett Cooper

ASC 820 - Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures sets forth the definition of Fair Value as "The price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date". Paramount to the definition is the concept of the "Market Participant".

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ILTA Conference 2011 Day 1

Aug 23, 2011 - by Elizabeth Caley

Greetings from hot and sunny Nashville!

The first official day of the ILTA 2011 Rev-elation Conference got off to a great start with 1200 participants in attendance.

For those who aren’t familiar, ILTA’s annual conference is a great event that brings together attorneys, legal IT professionals, practice support, litigation and knowledge management experts to share knowledge for developing new for their firm’s success. Best of all, there’s Law2020™, ILTA’s multi-year, multi-platform educational programming initiative focusing on how law firms will have to adapt in order to thrive over the next decade.

M&A market activity and trends

Jul 12, 2011 - by Ken Marlin

Marlin & Associates has issued our July 2011 Market Update. As you will see, it provides our sense of M&A values, activity and trends for the dozen plus technology, information and healthcare sectors that we follow. 

Click here for our Market Update.

M&A Deal Value up 39% this year

Jun 23, 2011 - by Joel Lessem

M&A activity in the US continued to pick up pace in the first half of 2011 and is expected to pick up steadily during the second half of the year, according to the PwC US Mid-Year M&A Outlook 2011.  The PwC report reviewed the last 12 months, and insights I took from it aligned well with a recent analysis by Firmex that reviewed the last 24 months of Data room usage and 2011 M&A trends. Our report showed a 43% growth in data room usage by M&A advisory firms, which is a good leading indicator for future M&A deals over the next six months.

How energy and mining firms are using data rooms to drive growth

Jun 15, 2011 - by Aaron Booth

With long term demand for energy and base metals increasing worldwide, energy and mining companies are looking for innovative ways to grow at a time of economic uncertainty.  From M&A transactions to attracting new capital, many firms are using data rooms to coordinate discussions with potential partners and investors across the world.

To better manage M&A deals and attract financing in innovative ways, leading energy and mining firms are using data rooms to share confidential documents like contract drafts, engineering drawings, and site photos.  A properly configured data room plays a key role in coordinating secure communication across internal and external stakeholders such as board members, financers, bidders, accountants, and lawyers. 

We asked our energy and mining clients to tell us about emerging trends in their industry, and how they are using virtual data rooms beyond the more traditional uses of M&A deals and corporate financing applications:

M&A market activity and trends

Jun 9, 2011 - by Ken Marlin

Marlin & Associates has issued our June 2011 Market Update. The M&A Market for mid-sized technology-enabled companies continues to show strength in terms of both volume and values.

Click here for our Market Update.

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Three reasons why Life Sciences firms are active data rooms users

Jun 7, 2011 - by Elizabeth Caley

Tightening FDA approval standards are pushing Life Sciences firms to make even further investments in technologies that support secure document sharing with multiple parties.  At Firmex, our life sciences clients continue to open more data rooms and use more bandwidth and storage than any other industry segment.
The Life Sciences industry includes organizations involved in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and clinical research, all companies with highly capital intensive development pipelines.  To be successful, these firms must fill their pipelines with a steady stream of potential products from a range of R&D efforts, knowing that only a few will become commercial successes. 

We asked our Life Sciences clients to explain why they are such active users of data rooms, and here is what they told us: 

State of the M&A Markets – First Quarter 2011

May 24, 2011 - by George Steinbarger

The first quarter of 2011 started off as well as most could have expected after the surge in M&A activity to close out 2010. The Q4 momentum has carried over into the first part of the year as the economy continues to recover, the debt and equity markets improve, and a general advance in buyer confidence gains strength. While several challenges continue to exist, deal makers are emboldened by the recent trend of activity occurring and remain optimistic that the economy and M&A markets will continue to improve during the coming year.