Signs of recovery in the technology market continue to pileup with the level of M&A activity expected to rise this year after hittinga six year low.
The level of deals in the UK last year dropped by 60% withthe value also reducing from €6.8bn in 2008 to €3.3bn last year, taking theoverall activity in the market to the lowest levels since 2003.
But the market is expected to bounce back with a predictionof a return to headline grabbing M&A deals, which comes a day after GrantThornton predicted a rise in the valuation of technology companies.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is predicting the impact of areturn of confidence and the continuing ripples from some of the mega deals inthe USwill awaken some spenders in the market.
“The right conditions appear to be in place [in the UK] to mean atipping point into the next stage of the deal cycle and local confidence isstarting to return,” said Andy Morgan, partner at PwC.
“The real hotspot in the world of applications issoftware-as-a-service as organisations see the benefits of moving large scale softwareexpenses from their capital budget to their operating budget, which will certainlydrive increase M&A activity,” he added.
The other feature of the market that has been put on holdduring the recession but should restart is the amount of private equity buyersand sellers moving into the tech market.
UK Top 10 Tech Deals2009
Feb 09 - €1,915m NDS Group plc acquired by Permira Advisors ltd
Nov 09 - €267m Playfish ltd by Electronic Arts
Jan 09 - €140m Abacus Group plc by Avnet Inc
Aug 09 - €132m Exchange FS ltd by Lloyds Development Capital ltd
Apr 09 - €95m Eidos plc by Square Enix Holdings
Dec 09 - €84 Synetrix (holdings) ltd by the Capita Group plc
Mar 09 - €81m Snell & Wilcox ltd by Nuance Communications Inc
Dec 09 - €71m SpinVox ltd by UnitedHealth Group Inc
Nov 09 - €41m Carillion IT Services ltd by the Capita Group plc
Source: PwC
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