Hedge Fund’s Forecast for Record Deals May Come True: Real M&A
2015-05-07 11:00:00.1 GMT
(For a Real M&A column news alert: {SALT REALMNA <GO>}.)
By Tara Lachapelle
(Bloomberg) -- It’s not even five months into the year, and
it’s already looking like a record-breaker for mergers and
acquisitions.
With $1.05 trillion of M&A announced so far, 2015 is just
one or two mega-deals shy of overtaking 2007’s record pace,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Deal volume that year
reached $3.4 trillion.
This year’s activity has been punctuated by $20 billion-
plus deals in energy, drugs and consumer staples. These are all
these areas where analysts and investors expect more large
transactions to occur. On Wednesday, York Capital Management’s
Michael Weinberger became the latest hedge-fund manager to
forecast a record year for mergers and acquisitions.
“It’s a very exciting time,” Weinberger, who helps manage
$26.2 billion, said Wednesday at the SkyBridge Alternatives
Conference. The investing conference, held in Las Vegas, also
features such speakers as former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S.
Bernanke and billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson.
While 2014 heralded the age of the mega-merger, 2007 is
remembered for its massive leveraged buyouts that symbolized the
irrational exuberance of the time. Power producer TXU Corp.,
which is now in bankruptcy, was taken private that year for $45
billion.
A financial crisis then dragged the U.S. into a recession
that sent ripples throughout the world, and dealmaking fell into
several-year lull. It has now returned with a bang.
Investors are “sitting in the desert and are thirsty” for
corporate boards to take action, Weinberger said.
Larger Transactions
The larger amount of money being spent per transaction is
boosting volume even as the number of transactions remains below
pre-crisis levels. There were 27,782 acquisitions struck in
2007, while this year is headed for about 22,000.
Another roughly $120 billion worth of deals -- or perhaps a
single one that size -- is needed to put 2015 on track for a
record in terms of volume. While that’s a large figure, it’s
conceivable: Pfizer Inc. is expected to still be on the hunt for
a substitute mega-merger after AstraZeneca Plc spurned its $120
billion offer last year. Should Salesforce.com Inc. find a buyer
as its advisers field offers, that’d be another $50 billion-plus
acquisition.
For Related News and Information:
Predicting Takeovers Is Accidental Skill for This ETF: Real M&A
Busiest Day for Health-Care Deals Is Set to Spawn More: Real M&A
Deal data and search builder: MA <GO>
Real M&A columns: NI REALMNA <GO>
Top deal stories: DTOP <GO>
--With assistance from Joshua Fineman in New York.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Tara Lachapelle in New York at +1-212-617-8911 or
tlachapelle@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Beth Williams at +1-212-617-2307 or
bewilliams@bloomberg.net
Mohammed Hadi
2015-05-07 11:00:00.1 GMT
(For a Real M&A column news alert: {SALT REALMNA <GO>}.)
By Tara Lachapelle
(Bloomberg) -- It’s not even five months into the year, and
it’s already looking like a record-breaker for mergers and
acquisitions.
With $1.05 trillion of M&A announced so far, 2015 is just
one or two mega-deals shy of overtaking 2007’s record pace,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Deal volume that year
reached $3.4 trillion.
This year’s activity has been punctuated by $20 billion-
plus deals in energy, drugs and consumer staples. These are all
these areas where analysts and investors expect more large
transactions to occur. On Wednesday, York Capital Management’s
Michael Weinberger became the latest hedge-fund manager to
forecast a record year for mergers and acquisitions.
“It’s a very exciting time,” Weinberger, who helps manage
$26.2 billion, said Wednesday at the SkyBridge Alternatives
Conference. The investing conference, held in Las Vegas, also
features such speakers as former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S.
Bernanke and billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson.
While 2014 heralded the age of the mega-merger, 2007 is
remembered for its massive leveraged buyouts that symbolized the
irrational exuberance of the time. Power producer TXU Corp.,
which is now in bankruptcy, was taken private that year for $45
billion.
A financial crisis then dragged the U.S. into a recession
that sent ripples throughout the world, and dealmaking fell into
several-year lull. It has now returned with a bang.
Investors are “sitting in the desert and are thirsty” for
corporate boards to take action, Weinberger said.
Larger Transactions
The larger amount of money being spent per transaction is
boosting volume even as the number of transactions remains below
pre-crisis levels. There were 27,782 acquisitions struck in
2007, while this year is headed for about 22,000.
Another roughly $120 billion worth of deals -- or perhaps a
single one that size -- is needed to put 2015 on track for a
record in terms of volume. While that’s a large figure, it’s
conceivable: Pfizer Inc. is expected to still be on the hunt for
a substitute mega-merger after AstraZeneca Plc spurned its $120
billion offer last year. Should Salesforce.com Inc. find a buyer
as its advisers field offers, that’d be another $50 billion-plus
acquisition.
For Related News and Information:
Predicting Takeovers Is Accidental Skill for This ETF: Real M&A
Busiest Day for Health-Care Deals Is Set to Spawn More: Real M&A
Deal data and search builder: MA <GO>
Real M&A columns: NI REALMNA <GO>
Top deal stories: DTOP <GO>
--With assistance from Joshua Fineman in New York.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Tara Lachapelle in New York at +1-212-617-8911 or
tlachapelle@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Beth Williams at +1-212-617-2307 or
bewilliams@bloomberg.net
Mohammed Hadi