Jefferies today released the results of a TMT survey conducted during the firm’s annual Global TMT Conference last week in Miami. Key findings include the expectation of the TMT M&A environment to remain on-pace or accelerate during the remainder of 2014 with participants identifying the software and internet sub-sectors as potential hotspots for activity.
Additionally, almost half of the survey respondents (45%) believe TMT IPO pricings will meet or exceed the 2013 levels. Additional results are available below.
TMT M&A and IPO Activity Expected to Remain Steady or Increase for Remainder of 2014
Jefferies today announced the results of a qualitative survey conducted at the firm’s recent 2014 Global Tech, Media & Telecom Conference on May 6-8 in Miami.
A vast majority (84%) of survey participants, of which 52% were institutional or private equity investors, indicated that they expect the TMT M&A environment to remain steady or accelerate during the remainder of 2014, after seeing approximately 2,500 transactions worth $357 billion announced globally through April. With 44% of responders expecting M&A activity to accelerate for the balance of the year, Software and Internet are specifically identified to be the most active subsectors by 47% and 42% of survey participants, respectively.
In terms of equity capital markets activity, nearly half (45%) of survey participants expect the total number of IPOs in 2014 to meet or exceed activity levels seen in 2013, with 30% expecting an increase in TMT IPO activity this year.
Addtional key findings from the TMT M&A survey
Additional key findings of the survey include:
- In the context of year-to-date TMT IPO activity, 65% of respondents said they believe a U.S. listing produces a higher valuation compared to a European listing
- When asked what is most responsible for the current valuation environment in high-growth software names, 35% of respondents said the reason was global liquidity seeking growth at any cost while 32% said the valuations are caused by broad disruption of established software incumbents with the view that massive markets are up for grabs
- In the U.S. wireless services market , 56% of survey participants said a four player market, consisting of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), T-Mobile US Inc (NYSE:TMUS) & Sprint Corporation (NYSE:S), is sustainable but believe a pricing war could hurt industry profits
The conference attracted nearly 600 attendees, including an extensive range of public and private companies across the TMT landscape as well as industry executives, institutional investors and private equity investors.
