More and More Public Companies Are Going Private

这是私人私人的高峰时间。

So far in 2019, there have been $69.6 billion in deals involving public companies being taken private by U.S. private equity sponsors — up from $54.3 billion for all of 2018, according to Dealogic. If the pace of dealmaking continues, it will be the most active year for take-private transactions in the U.S. since 2007, the financial analytics firm said.

今年也在金属氧化物半导体t active since 2007 on a global basis: According to Dealogic, $105.5 billion in take-private transactions have been announced globally so far this year, compared to $106.6 billion in all of 2018. In 2007, $329.7 billion in deals were announced.

The speed at which companies are going private is being driven by a number of factors, including private equity firms needing to put the record amount of capital they’ve raised over the last few years to work. Management teams and founders also increasingly want to avoid the demands put on public companies.

“In the tech space in particular, there’s the opportunity to take some legacy companies private and get them away from quarterly scrutiny,” said Peter Witte, associate director of private equity at EY. “But more broadly, it’s an opportunity to put large amounts of capital to work relatively efficiently,”

Witte explained that historically public companies traded at a valuation premium relative to companies in the private market. The premium has narrowed, however, as the private markets have been flooded with cash from investors, he said.

According to Antoine Drean, chairman of private equity fund advisory Triago, “the stars are also aligned for take-private deals” on a relative valuation basis.

据其中一些提供商包括Bain，我们在私人市场乘以私人市场倍数超过公共市场估值的第三个时期。其他时期是20世纪80年代后期，并在2007年和2008年的金融危机的筹集。

但是，Drean断言，这次相对估值可能更加可持续。

“The last five years have seen ever larger amounts committed to private equity, giving the asset category an unprecedented amount of firepower at a time when private equity general partners are becoming more adept at generating value through operational change, buy-and-build strategies, and specialization,” Drean said. He noted that the capital that has been raised allows the industry to rely less on financial engineering to grow companies, arguing that private equity firms’ operational expertise justifies the premium paid to public market valuations. “Even at higher prices, that emphasis permits private equity owners to generate more value than would have been created at these companies had they remained listed,” he said.

In one recent example of a take-private deal, ArchiMed, which focuses on healthcare investments, announced a deal to take international medical logistics firm Bomi Group off the public market. Denis Ribon, founding partner of ArchiMed, said more deals are planned, and the firm has hired senior managers with expertise in taking public companies private.

According to Ribon, the firm’s take-private strategy is driven in part by public markets, which aren’t always amenable to companies —even ones with healthy growth — that want to do multiple acquisitions.

“一般来说，公共市场对需要经常资金注入的侵略性买入策略并不舒服，”他说。“在大多数情况下，不是所有的时间，私人所有者更适合支持这些策略而不是公共市场。”

Public companies taken private will likely stay private longer than in the past, exacerbating the already declining number of listed companies. Improving businesses from an operational perspective and executing on buy-and-build strategies takes longer than the quick bumps obtained from financial engineering that private equity firms have historically engaged in.

“As a means of exiting companies, we’ll see sales from one PE firm to another steadily take market share from initial public offerings if prices paid in private markets remain above values in public markets,” Drean said.

但是Ribon表示，一些公司仍然需要来自公共市场的资本。“在某些时候，即使在今天，可能没有足够的私募股权为大型公司的所有权提供足够的私募股权，”他说。