Middle Market Weekly Outlook

Axial
June 29, 2015

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Good morning, all. Wall Street journal reports on low private equity deal activity trends, despite the global increase in mergers and acquisitions. Rather than for lack of capital, they suggest the dim deal outlook is due to caution on behalf of private equity firms hesitant to jump into the boom-bust cycle.

Meanwhile, The New York Times discusses the impact of the Affordable Care Act on insurance mergers. Now that the law is more than five years old, it’s clear that the business response is a wave of large-scale consolidations. While insurance companies engaging in M&A activity are expected to benefit in the long term, they likely won’t be shared with consumers.

Transactions

GI closes MRI Software buy
Stone Capital invests in Alliant Insurance Services
Falfurrias Capital acquires a stake in GlynnDevins
LDC sells Twofour Group to ITV for $86.4 million
Arcadia Healthcare buys Sage Technologies
Pharos acquires MOTION PT Holdings
Marlin Equity to acquire International Business Systems
GTCR to sell Cord Blood Registry

Opinions

Pressure on private equity to spend cash
Charging fees on invested capital stirs questions
Financial engineering and strategy development are key to portfolio value creation
Secondary market for secondary fund stakes expands
A Taylor Swift moment for mergers and acquisitions
Deal-making has never been this hostile
Fundraising for first-time private equity managers hits a post-GFC high
Health care law spurs merger talks for insurers
Donating to charity is win/win for PE firms
Cheap gas fuels push for pipeline mergers
Private equity culprit behind cooling IPO market
Why Obamacare may be behind the M&A bonanza
Antitrust enforcement remains strong for M&A, not so much elsewhere
M&A deals expected to flow throughout 2015
Local funds get creative as sellers say ‘bid me up’
Prepare for inevitable decline in returns
M&A races to near record pace
Pursuing a merger or acquisition? Culture can trip you up
Impact investing is no drag on returns
Goldman Sachs predicts big uptick in M&A
PE deal activity drops despite bubble M&A activity

This week in history…Surface Transportation Board casts a unanimous vote in favor of the merger of Union Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific (1996).