Guest Opinion

After a volatile end to 2018 and despite fears of a global downturn, Canadian M&A activity remained steady in the first half of 2019.

You signed an agreement to purchase a business, and still have a few months before closing. New regulations are announced which you expect will have a significant negative impact on the target’s business. You are starting to get cold feet—can you walk away before closing? In M&A transactions, one of the main risks that buyers […]

By Jeffrey Stevenson, VSS Digital-IT and population-health businesses enabling providers – doctors, community and hospital systems – to better analyze data from electronic health records, claims and clinical treatment are poised to become tomorrow’s healthcare-IT winners. This is happening as the industry’s transition from fee-for-service to value-based care has gained momentum. Value-based reimbursement models are […]

By Scott Meyer, Glenview James LLC Everyone wants to invest in a high-growth software-as-a-service deal. It’s the holy grail. But many times PE investors spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on diligence, only to find out that the target business isn’t really SaaS after all. Here’s how to save time and money and make smarter […]

By Michael Abboud, TetherView Do you have any idea how often hackers attack? A University of Maryland study says a cyberattack on average happens every 39 seconds. That’s 2,200 attempts a day, more than 800,000 a year. Countless companies — Sony, JP Morgan, Target and Equifax, to name just a few — have fallen prey to […]

By Patrick McCormick, Plante Moran The boomers are coming: The massive generation born after World War II is starting to hit old age, a turning point that many senior-care operators and investors are viewing as a kind of salvation. As PE in recent years has poured investment into the assisted-living sector, many markets have become […]

By Tyler Newton, Catalyst Investors  No one these days needs statistics to show that private equity and venture capital are too male-dominated. But here they are, from Bella Private Markets, showing that females control only 3.4% of the assets in PE. Go to investment-firm websites and see how many women are on the investment teams. That’s […]

By Chris Steele, Saggezza Skydivers and police officers know their daily jobs come with inherent risks. Likewise, private equity firms know that any given deal thesis might not realize the expected return on investment, even after meticulous due diligence. But some risks, particularly in IT, can be spotted and addressed pre-deal signing. Unaddressed, these four […]

By Scott B. Meyer, Glenview James Due diligence today requires a deep understanding of digital transformation. In this series, so far we’ve looked at the impact of buzzwords; claims of immunity; and the digital transformation conundrum. In this final installment we’ll examine the importance of a company’s actual process for digital product development. Changing a […]

By Nick Leopard and Jon Apter, Accordion A number of private equity firms have retained a “Barbarians at the Gate” fondness for the pre-digital era. Now, the sector’s awakening to automation, systemization and machine collaboration. Welcome to Private Techquity, the beating heart of efficiency. We’re not there just yet. Technology has not yet been woven […]