Lower Middle Market Weekly Outlook

Good morning, all. Tough finish against Portugal yesterday…

The scandal du jour of M&A is that 25% of corporate mergers involve insider trading. In analyzing public transactions from 1996 to 2012, researchers discovered the high prevalence. As Time reported, “the authors of the study say ‘the probability of the unusual volume in the sample arising out of chance’ is approximately ‘three in a trillion.'”

This discovery is particularly ill-timed as mega-deals and large corporate mergers are on the rise. Will the findings derail the current M&A boom?

Transactions:

• Genstar Capital to acquire Asset International
• Cronus Partners acts as financial advisor to Boreas Holdings in refinancing
• BioClinica acquires Blueprint Clinical
• Riverside acquires Global Orthopaedic Technologies
• Linden Care acquires Quick Care
• Peak Rock Capital acquires RCR International
• RPX Corporation to acquire PatentFreedom
• Trilantic Capital backs Fluid Delivery Solutions
• SR Labs acquires Wombat
• KT Capital invests in Advanced Estimating Systems
• Kinderhook exits Envionmental Quality Company
• Red Hat to acquire eNovance
• Lockheed Martin to acquire Deposition Sciences
• ClearLight Partners sells TASI Group to Berwind Group

Events:

• Wednesday Roundtable: Investment Opportunities in Cybersecurity

Opinions:

• Scott Gluck’s Private Fund Update
• Private equity firms must adapt or die
• News of mergers proposals helps Wall Street manage a small gain
• Is merger fever a menace for shareholders?
• Novo Nordisk sees ‘no strategic reason’ for big mergers
• Private equity firms fish for bargains in shipping industry
• Thorough due diligence includes background checks on execs
• Small business lending may emerge as next problem for banks
• Leveraged loans: Unitranche deals flourish as regulators loom
• What’s different about all these mergers?
• Why are some megadeals more likely to default?
• Harvard money managers exit after years of subpar returns
• The executive’s guide to mergers & acquisitions

This week in history…AT&T buys Tele-Communications for $48 billion (1998).