Middle Market Weekly Outlook

Good morning, all. The Wall Street Journal reports on new data that sings the praise of private equity. According to data from the National Center for the Middle Market, private equity-backed midmarket companies have been experiencing faster revenue expansion. Among the insights, the director of the center attributed the more rapid expansion to family businesses bought by private equity and given new life.

Meanwhile, healthcare deals are claimed a primary contributor to July’s ranking as the 7th busiest M&A month on record. Thomson Reuters data gives a breakdown of where the dealflow came from, and discusses changes in trends from last year and last month.

Transactions

• Main Street announces new portfolio investment in HW Temps LLC
• MidOcean to exit Noranco
• AXA Strategic Ventures invests in mobile insurance tech provider Limelight Health
• Apax Partners to invest in online real estate marketplace Idealista
• PE-backed Greenleaf Power acquires Plainfield Renewable Energy
• Cyprium Partners backs Weaber
• Castanea invests in First Aid Beauty
• North Castle invests in Barry’s Bootcamp
• Liberty Hall buys LaCroix
• Kinderhook buys Collision Diagnostic Services
• Warburg Pincus acquires Universal Services of America
• Tailwind buys National HME
• Marlin Equity backs My Fit Foods
• Summit Partners to sell 360T Group
• Pine Tree Equity sells Bradley Morris
• InterMedia managing partner invests in MOKO Social Media

Opinions

• Unable to buy, PE firms find rich exits with corporate buyers
• Second time around: private equity firms dive back into familiar deals
• Rubenstein says private equity’s fees, investors have changed
• The end of private equity superheroes
• Big number: health care’s deal fever
• A hostile environment: the M&A landscape in 2015
• Secret IPO filings feed deal frenzy
• Canadian venture capital, private equity deals surge in 2015
• Buyout firms get creative to spend their money
• Private equity liquidity: trickling down or bubbling up?
• Individual investors and family offices are the rising power in private equity
• Fintech gears up for the latest wave of M&A action
• Private equity fund performance and dry powder update
• Healthcare M&A running at record pace
• Private equity exits reached record high in second quarter
• Health care industry tech catch-up drives deals
• Global M&A set for record in 2015 as companies pursue megadeals
• Infographic — technology industry sees surging M&A
• Private equity-backed companies expand revenue faster than peers
• Private equity hits second quarter wall as stocks hiccup
• Analytic mindset of CFOs keeps C-suite harmony
• Healthcare deals lift July to 7th busiest M&A month on record
• More deals likely as financial-data battle escalates
• Consolidation sign of maturation in fintech sub-sector

This week in history…Telecommunications giant AT&T splinters into seven regional companies. For a good spell, however, AT&T freely admitted to employing monopolistic practices, reasoning that such tactics would enable them to provide the most efficient service (1983).