2012 Q3 M&A Exits? Not So Hot.
October 5, 2012
VC-backed M&A exits were not only down last quarter, they were significantly smaller in size. Of the 246 exits via corporate acquisitions and mergers in 2012, only 69 were completed in Q3, down from 91 in Q2 and 81 in Q1, according to the PitchBook Platform. In fact, M&A exits by quarter haven't been this slow since Q3 of 2009, when only 55 of them closed. Taking a look at exit count by deal size bucket, exits in the $50 million to $250 million size bucket were down to 16% of the activity last quarter, a drop from 55% in Q2 and 42% in Q1. The most common deal size in Q3 was under $50 million, accounting for a majority (63%) of the exit activity.
