Bain Capital helped drive exit activity in the third quarter with its sale of cloud-based network services provider Blue Coat Systems Inc to Symantec Corp for nearly $4.7 billion, the largest sale of the quarter.
Overall, private-equity-backed, U.S.-based M&A saw 142 deals totaling $27.5 billion in Q3 2016 — the year’s largest quarter by deal value. The market had similar tallies a year ago: 143 deals for $27.8 billion. On the whole, 2016’s numbers are down compared with the year earlier, but values have been trending up each quarter.
The $27.5 billion continues the upswing of 2016, representing a near-$3 billion rise from Q2 and near-$12 billion leap from Q1. The 142 companies sold by U.S. buyout shops is up 17 percent from the 118 offloaded in the second quarter and just about even with the opening quarter’s 140.
The third quarter’s totals for deal values and number of deals came in above the quarterly average (137.4 deals, $23.4 billion) since the beginning of 2011.
Of this quarter’s 142 exits, 38 had disclosed values. Of that group, eight broke the billion-dollar threshold.
Moreover, three deals surpassed last quarter’s biggest transaction: Stryker Corp buying the medical-instruments maker and wholesaler Sage Products LLC from Madison Dearborn Partners for about $2.8 billion.
Bain Capital boasted the first and third-largest exits of Q3. The headliner was Blue Coat. Bain also sold Brakes Bros Ltd, a food-and-drink distributor, to Sysco Corp for $3.1 billion.
Sandwiched in the middle of those two by value, the second-largest transaction was Sun Products Corp. Vestar Capital Partners exited the maker of household-care products to Henkel Consumer Goods Inc for almost $3.7 billion.
High technology led all industry by number of exits. Tech accounted for 24 of the 142 deals, or 17 percent. The consumer products and services sector was in second place, with 22 deals (16 percent). Industrials came in third with 15 deals (11 percent).
IPOs dip
IPOs also reflected similar stats to the third quarter of 2015, but fell off from Q2.
Two PE-backed companies made debuts on the public market in Q3, totaling $551.6 million in financing.
AdvancePierre Foods Holdings Inc raised the majority, collecting $390.6 million for its offering. The producer of pre-portioned ready-to-cook food is backed by Oaktree Capital Management.
Medpace Holdings Inc made up the other half of the IPO quotient, going public for $161 million. The clinical researcher of therapeutic drug and medical devices is sponsored by Cinven.
As the accompanying “PE-Backed IPO Exits by Quarter” graph shows, IPOs have a history of sharp fluctuation without much, if any, correlation. But there hasn’t been a real booming quarter since Q2 2015.
Download exit data and charts here:
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Photo courtesy ©iStock/Ridofranz
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