Browsing Research Reports by Title
Now showing items 236-255 of 714
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Entrepreneurial Buyout Monitor. A clear view on investment results 2013 - outlook 2014Welcome to the first edition of the Entrepreneurial Buyout Monitor – a snapshot of the trends and challenges involved in management buyouts and buy-ins of SMEs in Belgium from a practitioner’s perspective. We captured the opinion of 175 buyout experts in Belgium – including bankers, private equity players, lawyers, brokers and M&A advisers. There has been a general lack of understanding and transparency of the smaller segment of the buyout market. Here, we give insights and trends on the general investment climate for SME buyouts, including: 1) Deal flow 2) Deal-making 3) Financing Overall, the results indicate the investment climate has generally improved and this is expected to continue in 2014. The key insights from the survey are: 1) Deal flow is increasing – but with greater levels of competition and a lack of professionally run SMEs with the potential to be transferred, sourcing high-quality deals remains challenging 2) Lending conditions continue to be challenging – putting pressure on investment returns and urging investors to look for alternative deal structures 3) Investors have to be more proactive – focusing on targets with the potential to add value through cutting costs or pursuing growth opportunities 4) Potential vendors need to be realistic – and either adjust their price expectations or wait for improved operating results and an uplift in multiples when the economic climate improves
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Entrepreneurial Buyout Monitor. A clear view on investment results 2014 - outlook 2015Welcome to the second edition of the Entrepreneurial Buyout Monitor – a snapshot of the trends and challenges involved in management buyouts and buy-ins of SMEs in Belgium from a practitioner’s perspective. We captured the opinions of 169 buyout experts in Belgium – including bankers, private equity investors, mezzanine players, family offices, lawyers, brokers and M&A advisers. Overall, the results indicate the investment climate has considerably improved – as expected from last year’s edition. The outlook for 2015 remains positive. The key insights from the survey are: 1) DEAL FLOW IS INCREASING – however, with higher levels of competition and more favourable lending conditions, we’ve also seen higher multiples – especially for medium sized and larger deals. It’s tougher to achieve attractive returns, so the deal origination process is critical. 2) MORE FAVOURABLE DEBT MARKETS – overall debt multiples increased and the cost of lending significantly dropped. This was true for medium sized and larger deals. However, lending conditions continue to be challenging for smaller deals – so they may need more creative deal structures. 3) ALTERNATIVE INVESTORS BECOME MORE PROMINENT – both family offices and mezzanine investors become more active in smaller MBO/MBI transactions. 4) PRIVATE EQUITY INVESTORS NEED A CLEAR STRATEGY – they need a more focussed approach to finding opportunities for growth while cutting costs. And so they must gain a deeper understanding – and further insights into the sectors they’re targeting.
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European scale-up reportUnique view of the landscape and management of European scale-ups The widely held belief that European scale-ups are mainly innovative tech companies is incorrect; they can be found in all sectors and at all levels of innovation. However we can identify major differences between sectors in terms of size and growth, with scale-ups that are active in IT and consumer goods and services leading the way. Scale-ups with external investors on board are more professionally managed and have made greater progress in terms of internationalisation, innovation and talent management. All the same, attracting additional funding proves very difficult and hampers their further growth ambitions. These are some of the conclusions of a large-scale study conducted by Vlerick Business School on behalf of Scale-Ups.eu. Professor Veroniek Collewaert, Professor Sophie Manigart and post-doctoral researcher Thomas Standaert used information about more than 80,000 scale-ups in 8 European countries as their starting point. They specifically investigated management practices by means of a targeted survey among 124 of these scale-ups.
