ISSUE 4 | 2021
18
Business Services was the second most active sector with 20 transactions, followed by Consumer and Financial Services. These sectors have shown strong resilience throughout COVID with a particular flurry of activity in Consumer as businesses look to capitalise on the boost of online retail for key consumer brands. Some notable transactions included the sale of lifestyle brand Sweaty Betty to Wolverine for USD 410m and the e-commerce firm The Hut Group’s acquisition of Cult Beauty for USD 379m. M&A activity in Energy, Mining & Utilities continued to be supressed as the sector transitions to more sustainable opportunities. We expect to see an upturn as larger trade buyers look to transform their operating models through acquisition and investment in renewable companies in order to achieve their ESG strategic objectives. The Leisure sector was also quiet in Q3 2021 with only five reported transactions, but again we expect this to increase as businesses look to rebuild in the aftermath of COVID-19 and seek out opportunistic buys. Similarly, with no reported transactions in Real Estate during the last quarter, and only 10 deals in the last 18 months, it is only a matter of time before the post-COVID-19 valuations stabilise and we see the return of M&A within Real Estate.
funds was raised last year, which in addition to the existing dry powder, will continue to drive M&A activity in the mid-market as companies look at succession planning post-COVID. The activity amongst trade buyers remained steady at 91 transactions with an aggregate value of USD 10bn, which is 10% ahead of last quarter. This is predominantly due to several larger trade transactions including Mediaocean’s acquisition of Simplicity for a reported USD 500m and Telefonica’s acquisition of Cancom UK for USD 462m. KEY DEALS AND SECTORS Unsurprisingly, TMT remains the most active sector, with 47 deals representing a record high of 37% of all transactions. This trend will continue as the significant majority of all start-ups are in the tech sector, which underpins the disruption across all other sectors. It is interesting to note that seven of the region’s top 20 largest transactions were in TMT, with a focus on media, including Flutter’s sale of Oddschecker Global Media for USD 214m to Bruin Sports Capital and the sale of Dennis Publishing by Exponent for USD 413m, representing value of 2.8x reported revenue multiple.
KATHARINE BYRNE M&A PARTNER
kbyrne@bdo.ie
Made with FlippingBook HTML5