M&A Mania

It’s a great time to be an M&A banker these days.  Everytime I look up, I see another announcement of a sale transaction.

Today it was UnitedHealth paying $8.1B for PacifiCare.

Last week it was Bank of America buying MBNA.

The week before it was Unocal getting sold.

These are the megadeals that make the M&A guys the big fees.

But M&A mania isn’t limited to the large cap sector.

There is a ton of M&A activity going on in the private sector too these days.

Last week, Flatiron’s portfolio company, Fundquest, announced that it was being acquired by BNP Paribas.  Price and terms weren’t disclosed but this was a terrific outcome for Fundquest and its investors. I’d like to acknowledge my partner at Flatiron, Bob Greene, and his colleague at JP Morgan, Carty Chock, for their work on this investment.  Well done guys.

And just today, one of my favorite companies, ProfitLogic, announced it was being acquired by Oracle.  My partner at Flatiron Jerry Colonna and my friend Will Johnson sheparded this investment while they were both at JP Morgan Partners. I watched it from the sidelines and it was one of the few deals done in the 2001/2002 time frame that I wished I had been part of.  Kudos to the great management team and solid investor group that built ProfitLogic into one of the best enterprise software companies of this decade.

And there’s more coming.  The environment is great for M&A.  Prices aren’t crazy but companies are starting to put up some really strong numbers and patient investors who have been supportive during the downturn of the early part of this decade are getting rewarded handsomely. 

That makes me happy.