Slideshow: Getty Images’ Sale Is Week’s Top U.S. Deal
U.S. announced mergers posted a sharp decline this week, while the value of PE-backed transactions jumped, according to data from Thomson Reuters.
Transaction values plunged 50% this week, while the number of deals also fell 38%. There were 93 U.S. announced transactions this week, valued at $11.1 billion. This compares to 150 transactions, totaling about $22 billion, for the same time period last year (Aug. 14 to Aug. 20, 2011), according to data from Thomson Reuters.
Private equity provided the week’s biggest deal. The Carlyle Group announced on Wednesday it would buy Getty Images, a leading supplier of stock photos, video and other digital content. The deal is valued at $3.3 billion. Hellman & Friedman is the seller.
The Getty Images sale helped PE deal value to nearly triple this week. There were twenty deals, valued at $4.4 billion, TR says. This compares to 28 mergers that totaled $1.2 billion for the same time period last year.
Here’s the week’s top 5 PE transactions, according to Thomson Reuters.
This week, the Zayo Group said it would pay $13.5 million to buy the remaining stake it doesn’t own in USCarrier. Zayo bought roughly 50% of the company through its 2010 acquisition of American Fiber Systems.
USCarrier provides a regional fiber-based bandwidth service that spans Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Tennessee.
Zayo is backed by GTCR.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
