Current market developments in M&A transactions by private equity investors

Curr­ently, an increase in tran­sac­tion volu­mes can be obser­ved in both corpo­rate and private equity tran­sac­tions. The gene­ral condi­ti­ons for private equity inves­tors are still right, espe­ci­ally with regard to finan­cing. In the corpo­rate sector, US and Asian buyers in parti­cu­lar are active in the German market. Howe­ver, for both inves­tor groups, the demand for invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties exceeds the supply of companies.

Direct invest­ments in medium-sized compa­nies are very attrac­tive for entre­pre­neu­rial fami­lies, espe­ci­ally if the medium-sized company is a family-run busi­ness. This is where inte­rests and under­stan­ding of the same kind often come toge­ther in the manage­ment of a company.

Which increa­ses the likeli­hood of getting in on the action.

There are a number of mecha­nisms for this, ranging from purchase agree­ments to insu­rance poli­cies. Howe­ver, this does not change the fact that a good due dili­gence should be carried out before acqui­ring a company and that in most cases there is a resi­dual risk.