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2020 Industry Highs and Lows

2020 has been an unmistakably disrupting year for many industries, including the mergers and acquisitions world.

A study by McKinsey outlines the big industry winners and losers during this time, and our buyer trends within The Firm have matched up well.

The Highs

Unsurprisingly, companies in the technology sector continued to thrive as more people relied on digital interfaces while working from home. Retail also did well in the US, boosted by not only the economic stimulus package but also by reliance on consumer goods. (Remember that panic-buying-toilet-paper phase?)

Logistics remained positive, though the margins were lower than normal, as did business services and tech services.

The Lows

The hardest-hit industries were Real Estate and Banking. Travel, Energy/Utilities, and Asset Management were also low on the list.

What We Saw

As for The Firm and how we weathered the beginning of the pandemic, we can share that 63% of our pending deals were taken off the table between St. Patrick’s Day and the middle of April. Anything that did not already have institutional financing in place was put to the lenders’ back burners as they rushed to fulfill PPP and EIDL loans.

Overall, though, the ship has righted itself. 2020 is set to be our best year in in terms of transaction dollars – we have already surpassed 2019’s year-end numbers by Q3. Much to the chagrin of our some of our value-oriented buyers, Sellers are still able to demand strong multiples.

Read More

View the McKinsey report here: https://rb.gy/au0jrh

 

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