Investment Banking

Statistical analysis and insight into activity and trends in M&A and capital markets.

Our investment bankers publish timely updates on activity and trends in the advisory and financing markets. These publications provide statistical analysis and interpretation of activity in a variety of sectors.

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The IPO market saw its slowest quarter in three years thanks to residual volatility from the late-2018 market pullback and January’s U.S. government shutdown. But several signs point to activity accelerating, including Lyft's March 28 debut, which sets the stage for other unicorns poised to go public in the second quarter.

The leveraged finance market pulled back in the fourth quarter as wide-ranging uncertainty forced lenders to rethink their risk tolerance. Total leveraged loan volume fell from $67 billion in October to $13 billion in December, the lowest monthly total in three years.

Historically, private label products have been viewed as one of the leading examples of a counter-cyclical category: during a recession, consumers would “trade down” to private label options—and then revert back to their favorite brands once the economy recovered.

In an M&A environment where robust valuations are virtually a given for high-quality companies, speed and certainty of close have become increasingly important tools that bidders can use to differentiate themselves in hypercompetitive deal processes.

Conversations at October's PACK EXPO International focused on the trends driving heightened dealmaking in the packaging industry. The $40.9 billion of transaction value in the first half of the year puts 2018 on pace to exceed 2017's record level.

Based on our conversations at this year's Money20/20 with corporate development executives, business owners, and investors—as well as insights from the 16 FinTech M&A transactions we have completed in the last 18 months—we analyze the forces that are driving dealmaking activity in four high-growth areas of FinTech.

A strong economic backdrop and the need to respond to the threat posed by Amazon and other digital disrupters have led to an uptick in M&A activity among specialty distributors.

Evolving trends in the workplace and the learning ecosystem are changing how companies invest in talent.

Strategic acquirers and financial sponsors are aggressively targeting companies that can convert imagery and data into actionable insights for military, governmental, and commercial users.

Conversion to differentiated, highly engineered products has led to heightened M&A activity across the building technologies sector, including LED lighting and flooring.

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