Topic: M&A

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Electronic documents and signatures: a legal overview

In our increasingly digitized world, it is important to know the rules regarding electronic documents and signatures. Each Canadian province and territory has adopted its own electronic commerce legislation, which are very similar to one another and largely permissive in regards to the use of electronic documents and signatures. Alberta’s e-commerce legislation is called the … Continue reading

There’s snow business like snow business: considerations for your off-season acquisition

Eastern Canada’s ski season has officially come to a close. However, there is more reason than ever to keep an eye on the moguls.  While activities on the slopes may have ceased, market activity is often at its peak during the off-season (pun intended). For example, in April 2017, Aspen Skiing Co purchased Intrawest – the company … Continue reading

Building the health systems of tomorrow: dealmaking and the future of the life sciences sector

EY has recently published a year-in-review report for deal making in the global life sciences industry.  The publication features some interesting statistics about deal activity in the past year, and makes predictions about which trends will carry forward into the 2019 and beyond. The total value of life sciences deals in 2018 was US $198 … Continue reading

Continued robust VC investment and PE mega-deals take the spotlight in a review of the 2018 VC & PE Canadian market

A recent report released by the Canadian Venture Capital Private Equity Association (CVCA) entitled “VC & PE Canadian Market Overview 2018” (the Report) reviews the current strength of Canadian venture capital (VC) investment and very recent mega-deal trend in Canadian private equity (PE). Highlights of the Report Total VC investment remains remarkably high: a total of … Continue reading

Outlook for 2019: cross-border M&A and post-merger integration

Despite a general environment of uncertainty, 2018 was quite active in the cross-border M&A arena. However, observers expect a global drop for this year, especially for the mega-deals (i.e. transactions with deal values exceeding $10 billion) amid uncertainty over Brexit and the threat of globe trade wars. Accordingly, acquirers are increasingly focusing on domestic deals rather … Continue reading

Narwhals, unicorns and profits – Canadian tech start-ups are on the rise

Unicorns and narwhals – what business do these creatures have in boardrooms and on stock exchanges? “Unicorn” and “narwhal” are industry terms used to describe certain private start-up tech companies. “Unicorns” are start-ups valued by investors at $1B or more, a rare and substantial feat that has earned them their mythical nickname. “Narwhals” sit a … Continue reading

Private equity and the “buy-and-build” boom

Private equity funds are increasingly turning to a “buy-and-build” (B&B) approach to boost revenues, realize value and increase returns. The B&B approach, also referred to as an “add-on” strategy, involves the purchase of a platform company, followed by the purchase of multiple related and complimentary targets through share or asset acquisitions. B&B strategies offer an … Continue reading

Creating value beyond the deal

In today’s M&A market, dealmakers are increasingly under pressure – resulting from increased disruption, industry convergence, technological change and the need to shift to new business models to stay competitive – to maximize and deliver value from each deal they do. One would think, therefore, that value creation would be a priority for dealmakers. However, … Continue reading

Know your worth: should you disclose undisclosed intangibles on financial statements?

Intangible assets are the non-monetary, non-physical assets of a business, including its rights, goodwill, overarching brand, and other intellectual property (IP) (i.e., patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets). These types of assets represented 52% of the global enterprise value in 2018; however, 80% of that value went wholly undisclosed on companies’ balance sheets. Why are businesses’ … Continue reading

“Crazy Rich Asia” – record growth in the Asia-Pacific region

The Asia-Pacific region experienced a strong year for mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”) in 2018 and the level of M&A activity in this region is expected to continue in 2019. It was anticipated that 2018 would be a busy year with regards to M&A for Asia-Pacific companies and these predictions proved to be true. In the … Continue reading

A budding investment – food and beverage investment opportunities and strategic partnerships in the growing cannabis industry

In December of 2018, Health Canada introduced draft regulations governing the production and sale of additional cannabis products, namely edibles, extracts, and topicals (the Cannabis 2.0 regulations). These regulations are set to take effect no later than October 17, 2019 and will introduce notable opportunities for food and beverage companies to enter into strategic partnerships … Continue reading

Strategies for parenting start-ups, post-acquisition

In recent years, we have seen more acquisitions of start-ups by big corporations in the tech industry, healthcare, retail, fashion, beauty, food, and transportation. The benefits of M&A transactions in these sectors has been more widely recognized. For instance, for a start-up, partnering with a large corporation provides broader market access, deeper industry knowledge and … Continue reading

Looking back at M&A activity in 2018

Looking back at global M&A activity during 2018, a report on global M&A by Mergermarket shows that while global M&A deal value rose over the last year, the number of deals fell for the first time since 2010. The value of deals rose to $3.53 trillion US dollars, an increase of 11.5% since 2018, making … Continue reading

U.S. M&A: full speed ahead for 2019

Optimism is the name of the game for the U.S. M&A market. A recent report by Deloitte cites positive tax reform, a relaxed regulatory climate and growing cash reserves as the primary reasons for expecting 2019 to be a big year for M&A. 79% of the 1,000 U.S. corporate executives and private equity firms surveyed … Continue reading

Brewery M&A in Canada

The brewing industry is one of Canada’s oldest, and has undergone substantive transformations in recent decades. After a period of consolidation that culminated in the mid-1980s, only ten Canadian breweries remained, of which three controlled more than 95% of the market. As a result of further worldwide M&A activity, the industry is now dominated by … Continue reading

Canadian M&A market still thought to be strong despite recent cut backs

Despite some cut backs in M&A activity expected over the next 12 months, the results reported in Ernst & Young’s (E&Y) 19th edition of the Global Capital Confidence Barometer (the “Report”) make clear that Canadian executives remain optimistic about Canadian and global M&A markets. Canadian executives are traditionally thought to be very bullish on the Canadian and global economy, and it … Continue reading

The role of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in M&A

In private equity, environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are often overlooked and undervalued. Due diligence is usually more focused on the financial and quantitative aspects of the target. However, in recent years, ESG has proven to be a powerful underlying factor for business successes and failures. As evidence by the #MeToo movement, and the … Continue reading

Summarizing the 2018 M&A Holdback Escrow Study

One of the common tools to mitigate transaction risk is a holdback escrow, where the buyer can retrieve funds in escrow if the seller fails to meet certain terms of the purchase agreement. There are numerous benefits to holdback escrows, such as broad claim coverage, publicly-available payout statistics to assist with cost estimation, and shared … Continue reading

Dissecting MedTech M&A deals

As we previously reported, this year has seen a surge in healthcare-related M&A. Many of these transactions are in the medical technology industry, or MedTech. While the industry’s healthy profit margins and opportunities for growth have driven a flurry of activity, the potential for large rewards from MedTech acquisitions also comes with unique obstacles: Regulatory compliance: … Continue reading
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