Trends Report for the Software Industry

Berkery Noyes has released its Half Year Mergers and Acquisitions Trends Report for the Software Industry.

1st Half 2011 Key Highlights

The largest transaction in 1st Half 2011 was Microsoft Corporation’s announced acquisition of Skype Technologies SA, from an investor group lead by Silver Lake Partners, for $9.08 billion.

Google, Inc. was the most active Software Industry acquirer by volume, with nine acquisitions: SageTV, Zynamics, AdMeld Inc., PostRank Inc., Sparkbuy Inc., TalkBin, PushLife Inc., Green Parrot Pictures and SayNow.

There were 84 financially sponsored transactions in 1st Half 2011, with an aggregate value of $8.1 billion, representing 13 percent of the total volume and 15 percent of the total value, respectively.

1st Half 2011 Key Trends

Total transaction volume remained largely unchanged in1st Half 2011from 2nd Half 2010, with 651 transactions in 2nd Half 2010 and 655 in 1st Half 2011.

Total transaction value in 1st Half 2011 decreased by three percent over 2nd Half 2010 from $41.3 billion in 2nd Half 2010 to $40.1 billion in 1st Half 2011.

Median multiples increased in 1st Half 2011 from 2nd Half 2010. Median revenue multiples rose 16 percent from 1.8 to 2.1, and median EBITDA multiples rose 13 percent from 12.2 to 13.8, which represents the fourth consecutive increase in median EBITDA multiples. Median transaction value has made a similar increase.

M&A Market Overview

Berkery Noyes tracked 2727 transactions between 2009 and 1st Half 2011, of which 929 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate transaction value to be $120.7 billion. Based on known transaction values, BN projects values of 1796 undisclosed transactions to be $28.2 billion, totaling $148.8 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past two and a half years.

Disclosed median enterprise value multiples between 2009 and 1st Half 2011 for all segments combined in this report were 11.8 times EBITDA and 1.79 times revenue.

The most active market segment that Berkery Noyes tracked between 2009 and 1st Half 2011, in both value and volume, was Niche Software with 1310 transactions with an aggregate value of $54.9 billion.