Middle Market Weekly Outlook

Almost mid-way through 2015, we step back to evaluate the drivers of M&A activity this year. As a follow up to their Middle Market M&A Outlook piece in the beginning of the year, Citizens Bank distills some of the key trends defining middle market M&A this year including the rise of the individual investor, a healthy market for cross-border deals, and two robust sectors we should expect to see more deals from – healthcare/pharma and energy/industrials.

For fun, the Journal’s latest Carried Interest Comic is out playing off a recent article on the mighty dollar and it’s impact on M&A here and abroad.

Deals

• Fitbit files for IPO
• Ametek acquires Global Tubes
• ABRY to buy Sentry Data Systems
• DFW Capital Partners acquires Creative Computing Solutions in add-on deal
• Digital River puts Beanstream up for sale
• Apax buys Quality Distribution
• F-Squared Investments up for sale
• Slate Capital to buy Broadcast Sports
• TA Associations backs NorthStar Financial Services

Opinions

• What Private Equity Sells vs. What They Actually Do
• Food Companies Satiating Private Equity’s Hunger for Deals
• Buying Up Businesses: Inside the Numbers
• Oil and Gas M&A Set to Rebound in Q2
• Private equity looks for life beyond the leveraged buyout
• 10 M&A Trends for the Middle Market
• Mergers and acquisitions boom driven by ‘jumbo’ deals
• Zen and the Art of M&A Dealmaking
• Why We Think M&A is Here to Stay
• Industrial Mergers & Acquisition Value Sees Strongest Start in Four Years
• Social Media Use in M&A: Trends & Challenges
• What Implications Would a Salesforce Sale Have for VC?
• Buyout Firms Get SaaS-y with Enterprise Software Providers

This week in history…What would become one of the largest film financing and distribution companies, Paramount Pictures, is born (1914).