Middle Market Weekly Outlook

A lot has been written about M&A’s monster year in 2015. But MarketWatch reminds us to look at the underlying conditions driving consolidation across industry sectors. “This latest M&A wave is perversely driven by weak, rather than strong, economic conditions.”

Insights

• Activist investors may have met their match
• Company execs have mixed feelings about PE
• Dry powder is at record levels
• Weak economic conditions are driving consolidation
• M&A activity on target to increase modestly in H1 2016
• Favorable conditions for automotive M&A
• Still waiting for oil consolidation
• Women still sparse in M&A circles
• Fed holds interest rates

Transactions

• Sentinel Capital buys Marketplace Events
• VitreosHealth raises $5 million
• HGGC acquires Instantly
• Oak Hill to buy Imagine! Print Solutions
• Tech Air acquires two welding companies
• Loar Group buys General Ecology

This Week in History… The Gold Reserve Act is passed, allowing the government to peg the dollar to the price of gold and giving the U.S. Treasury control of all gold supplies. (1934)