Lower Middle Market Weekly Outlook

Alibaba made a remarkable entrance to the public markets last week with one of the largest IPOs of all time. The flotation priced the Chinese e-commerce company at a whopping $21.8 billion, and is another example of companies staying private longer.

In other news, Scotland decided to remain a part of the United Kingdom. This is a sign of relief for many British PE and VC firms, which previously indicated their support for “remaining part of the union.” For an interesting mix of geopolitics and corporate finance, read Rob Cox’s recent column.

Another trend to watch: Big buyout firms are returning to the middle market.

Transactions:

• Nucor to buy Gallatin Steel
• Riverside Company acquires Bootie Butler
• Wind Point Partners buys Vision-Ease Lens
• Trive Capital buys LARK Industries
• The Allure Group acquires the Greater Harlem Nursing Home
• Strattam Capital backs Doxim
• Exar completes merger with Integrated Memory Logic
• Sentinel Capital Partners exits Chase Doors
• Hudl acquires Ubersense
• Ridgemont closes investment in The Cook & Boardman Group
• Shamrock Capital Advisors acquires Questex
• Athlon Media Group to acquire Parade
• Audax Group acquires Chase Doors
• Kieu Hoang Winery acquires Guilliams Vineyards

Events:

• Tuesday: ACG’s 2nd Annual Deal Crawl in Charlotte
• 9/30 Webinar: Best Practices for Effective Fund Life Cycle Management: Maintaining Alignment in Mature Funds for GPs and LPs

Opinions:

• Negotiate like a pro: 7 techniques when selling your company
• 5 tips for buying a family-owned business
• Use data to fix the small business lending gap
• Equity investors may get their fingers burnt as IPOs hot up
• Rubenstein predicts consolidation in the PE industry
• Apparel retailers don’t make good PE targets
• Despite risks, PE firms eye Jordan deals
• Fundless sponsor deals gaining in PE
• Dealmakers still bullish on healthcare, especially in the short term
• Strategic mergers are back in the spotlight
• High distributions from PE are likely to continue
• Hospital mergers can lower costs and improve medical care
• Drug maker that did an inversion seeks to block one
• Positive outlook for middle market manufacturing execs

This week in history… Travelers Group acquires Salomon Brothers for $9 billion (1997).