There’s no doubt that M&A has picked up the pace dramatically in 2011. Recent estimates show a 58% increase in global M&A activity in the first quarter of this year versus the same time period in 2008.
If this high rate of M&A activity continues, we may even come close to the bubble environment of 2007. Private equity companies, of course, are heavily involved in many of these deals as sellers, buyers or funders.
Other M&A deals involve strategic acquisitions by sole companies looking to expand distribution channels or enter a new product market.
M&A has certainly not been limited to specific industries this year – from Jimmy Choo shoes being sold for $800 million to luxury products group Labelux, to General Mills purchasing half of French yogurt company Yoplait for over a billion, to multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical and high-tech deals – the pace and variety of activity is something to behold.
Top 11 Priorities – Update for M&A and Pharmaceutical
In the latter part of last year, Tompkins’ experts compiled lists for the Top 11 Priorities in 2011 for Profitable Growth and made predictions about M&A in general as well as in pharmaceutical and related industries. How did we do? Not bad at all.
But we missed part of the story in M&A by undervaluing the role of ROI through supply chain due diligence. For more details, read the rest of the story on M&A for 2011.
In the pharmaceutical, medical products and biotech industries, M&A is much hotter than anticipated. Tompkins predicted that uncertainty would slow things down in these sectors in 2011. Well, we were wrong – these organizations are acquiring and investing in small, medium and large companies on a large scale. In some cases, multiple supply chain integrations are being undertaken simultaneously between pharma, bio-tech and medical productions companies. Read more about M&A in the pharma industry in this Top 11 Priorities update.
Also, look for more mid-year analysis on Top 11 Priorities for other industries here in my blog in the coming weeks.
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Jim Tompkins
More Resources
Whitepaper: Integrating Supply Chains from Business Combinations
M&A Education Center
Pharmaceutical Education Center