Key Takeaways From SRS Acquiom's 2020 M&A Deal Terms Study

The 2020 M&A Deal Terms Study published by SRS Acquiom on May 5, 2020 provides an overview of market trends based on an analysis of over 1,200 of their private-target M&A transactions which closed between 2015 and 2019. The vast majority of this sample involved U.S. public and private buyers, and ranged in transaction size from US$25 million to US$250 million. Here is our selection of their key findings:

• Numbers: Is it All Downhill From Here?: 2019 appears to have been a year of slight decline. The median amount of equity capital invested dropped to $27 million (down from $31 million in 2018) and the median multiple return on investment declined to 3.4x (down from 3.8x in 2018, and down even further from 4x in 2017). This may be linked to 2019's shorter median amount of time from first investment round to exit (6 years), as well as a smaller number of average equity financing rounds (3).