News

Catalyst publish Industrial Electronics and Paper & Packaging reports
11th Jan 2012

The past quarter has seen Mergers Alliance's UK partner Catalyst release a number of sector reports.

Most recently Catalyst released a paper on Industrials Electronics with a focus on Sensors.
The report predicts a significant upturn in mergers and acquisitions driven by the need for global increase in scale as the use of sensors increases.
The report details how the majority of deals to date in the sensor and instrumentation market have been under £100 million in value, demonstrating the importance of the mid-market to the development of the industry.
Other key findings in the report are:

- International companies have been selling businesses in sectors linked to volatile markets e.g. Perkins Elmer’s disposal of its detection and illumination business to the Veritas Group.
Businesses that supply high growth sectors with high margins have been acquisition targets e.g. Halma’s acquisition of Allcat Scientific, a US company which manufacturers wireless sensors for measurement.

-The US and UK lead M&A in sensors and sensor systems accounting for over 70% of all deals.

There is a potential for major growth in the sensor market in China – the current sensor content of a Chinese manufactured car for example is 50% less than that in North America and Western Europe.

To download the report go to

http://bit.ly/sMVLDq

Another notable publication released by Catalyst this quarter was on the Paper & Packaging sector. The research predicts that disposals will continue as the sector restructures from debt burden, as well as covering the ambitious plans of Chinese producers to gain worldwide market coverage.
Other key findings from the report include:

-Increased consolidation in the European paper and packaging sector. The US market, which has seen consolidation for over a decade, remains fragmented with the top five US firms accounting for 75% of the market whereas in Europe this is only 40%.

-Investment by large trade players in Turkey, India and other BRIC countries will continue.

-Private Equity investment has increased in the last 18 months with increasing numbers of MBOs as PE firms have taken advantage of lower valuations to make acquisitions.

Click on the link below to download the report.