DealMakers Survey: Nothing Shocking

Last month, I asked you to participate in the bi-annual DealMakers Survey compiled by the Association for Corporate Growth and Thomson Financial. We got about 1,000 total respondents, with the breakdown as follows: I-banker/intermediary (24%), Private equity pro (22%), Service provider (27%), Corporate executive (15%) and Lender (15%).

The top-line result was that most dealmakers believe that the current M&A environment is excellent (49%) or good (44%), which isn’t terribly surprising given that 2007 is on pace to obliterate 2006’s record volume. Also not surprising was expressed concern over a tightening in the debt markets, with 58% saying the debt markets would be a little less favorable in one year, and another 10% saying they’d be much less favorable.

As a quick aside, it’s worth noting that some of the recent mega-deal debt troubles have yet to trickle down into the middle-markets. In fact, some middle-market sponsors I spoke with in DC said that terms were becoming even more favorable of late. Maybe it’s a lag… Or maybe bankers have more faith in less audacious deals…

I’ve posted all of the raw data below for your perusal, but here are a few more quick hits:

• Healthcare got the most votes for the sector that will experience the most organic growth over the next six months. Tech won when asked for the sector that would experience the most M&A activity.
• When asked about M&A volume over the next six months, 46% said it would stay about the same, while 33% expected modest growth.
• The top reason for deal failure was poor follow-through on post-merger integration, while overpaying placed second.
• Private equity respondents reported that around 73% of their companies had higher EBITDA than during its prior fiscal year.

DATA DUMP
Press Release: Release.doc
Raw Data: DealMakers_Survey.doc