Contact: Brenon Daly
The results of our annual survey of corporate development executives are in and the outlook for technology M&A in the coming year is less than bullish. Consider this change in sentiment: the number of respondents who thought the overall M&A market would improve in the coming year dropped from half (52%) in the 2009 survey to just one-third (35%) this time. Meanwhile, the percentage that projected the market will be worse tripled from just 7% last year to 23% this year. The fact that roughly one out of four corporate buyers expects the market to deteriorate is a rather bearish sign, we would suggest.
Moreover, that bearishness around the overall market carries over to projections about their own company’s buying plans for 2011. Just half (52%) said they expected to be busier in 2011 than this year. That’s down from two-thirds (68%) who said the same thing last year. (In 2009, 15% of respondents said the acquisition pace at their firms would ‘increase significantly,’ twice the level that said the same thing in this year’s survey.) See our full report on the outlook for M&A activity and valuations in the coming year from corporate development executives.