We produce separate quarterly reports that focus specifically on; technology services, enterprise software, cybersecurity and marketing and technology.
1. Global deal volumes were tracking ahead of last year in Q1 before M&A levels were halved as the impact of Covid was felt globally. We have seen evidence of the start of an uptick in Q3. Brexit and anticipated changes to UK capital taxes have and will, no doubt, influence the UK M&A market in the near term.
2. Global indices and valuation multiples across the marcoms and consulting spaces initially took material hits on levels seen at the start of the year but we have seen a continued resurgence through Q3 particularly amongst the scale consultancy players.
3. Many acquirers have shifted M&A focus towards cash preservation and internal restructuring and development but we have seen continued strength across capabilities including digital transformation, data & analytics and performance media. We have also seen more opportunistic plays for fundamentally sound agencies and a continued trend around take private transactions. More innovative deal structuring has been crucial in this environment to mitigate risk and reward growth.
Clayton Dubilier and Rice acquired UK listed Huntsworth in a high-profile take private deal at an EV of $719m and share premium of 50%. Huntsworth is a medical communications and healthcare marketing services provider in the US and Europe with the deal underpinned by confidence in Huntsworth’s underlying markets, capabilities and financial profile alongside a strong management team and proven buy and build strategy.
Accenture acquired Creative Drive, a New York based digital content and strategy agency expanding Accenture’s marketing services capability to capitalise on the shift to in-house digital media consumption and attain further penetration in a client base that has historically looked to speciality shops around this capability.
HH Global (backed by Blackstone) acquired NASDAQ listed InnerWorkings in a take private deal valued at $177m at a share premium of 127%. InnerWorkings is a US-based physical and digital marketing group accelerating digital and data capabilies across the combined group.