Take-Privates Down, But Not Out
December 13, 2012
Public-to-private buyout activity took a dive this year in terms of deal count. With only about half a month left until the new year, the number of completed take-private buyouts of U.S. companies currently stands at 30, just over half of last year's final count of 57 and ending an upward trend over the last couple of years. The median deal size for those buyouts, however, has experienced a less significant drop, falling from $326 million to $272 million over the same time period. This year's median deal size is the second highest in the last five years, buoyed by 10 deals of at least $500 million in size, half of which were $1 billion or more. All in all, PE investors have taken 193 public U.S. companies private since the beginning of 2008, according to the PitchBook Platform. The B2C and IT industries each account for 24% of those companies, making them the most active industries for the transaction type.
