What a great venue it was for the 30th M&A Worldwide convention in Lisbon. Fingeste made an excellent job of hosting the event and everybody appreciated the high level of organisation. This was indeed another milestone in the history of M&A Worldwide conventions.
More than 250 M&A professionals attended over the two days of the event, dozens of meetings were held and excellent presentations were made. It was also an honour to have a fantastic speech from Portugal’s Economy Minister.
The convention also provided the opportunity to stage our General Assembly, at which a new Board was elected and Jacques Jetten was designated as Chairman.
The members honoured Björn Voigt, Isabelle Arnaud-Despreaux and Çigdem Bicik who left the Board after many years of dedicated service.
For all these reasons, the convention is one that will stick in the memories of all.
An outstanding number of 275 M&A professionals gathered on the 4th and 5th of April in Lisbon for the 30th M&A Worldwide convention. This is now widely considered as a milestone for this convention.
Hosted by M&A Worldwide’s Portuguese member Fingeste, this convention was a world-class event attended by more than 100 M&A Worldwide members from 40 countries, along with 151 business guests and plenty of opportunities to interact and make connections. The event included a speed meeting session comprising 110 meetings.
The programme included:
M&A Worldwide members also had the chance to develop internal discussion on industry groups.
During the General Assembly, members unanimously approved the 2019 budget and 2018 accounts.
A new Board was also elected, and Jacques Jetten became the new Chairman.
As a farewell, members honoured the following three people: past Chairman (Björn Voigt), past Vice Chairman (Çigdem Bicik) and past Treasurer (Isabelle Arnaud-Despreaux).
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Dear Members,
It’s an honour to be your Chairman and I feel ready to lead the board and take M&A Worldwide a leap forward over the next couple of years.
The M&A industry overall is becoming increasingly professional and competitive. M&A Worldwide is a part of this reality and in order for M&A Worldwide to be the perfect answer for midmarket companies seeking international targets and buyers, a lot of things need to be done. We have to transform from a convention organisation into a deal-oriented organisation. I believe that we have a strong basis to achieve this since a large part of our members are entrepreneurs. Therefore, we speak our clients’ language, we have the relevant experience and we should be able to connect the dots in the right way. In this way, we should be able to help our clients achieve their goals.
But the basis is not enough anymore for a competitive edge. The necessary change comes down to three things:
(1) Organise. We need to organise the deal-oriented M&A organisation we want to be.
(2) Commit. Members need to commit to M&A Worldwide, but moreover to other members. We should treat each other as if we were colleagues.
(3) Work. Making progress is not about a board that decides; it is about members acting together in the market.
Our job as the new board is to develop and implement the right conditions to fulfil our clients’ international ambitions. We still have quite a way to go. The determination of all Board members is to work hard to achieve the necessary progress for our clients and our members.
Jacques Jetten – Chairman
Managing Partner, Aeternus Corporate Finance
j.jetten@aeternuscompany.nl
Doug Rodgers – Vice Chairman
CEO and Energy Team Leader, Washington, DC (Vienna, VA), Focus Investment Banking
doug.rodgers@focusbankers.com
Jordi Blasco – Secretary
Managing Partner, ARS Corporate Finance Advisors SL
jordi.blasco@arscorporate.com
Didier Busquet – Treasurer
Partner, Linkers Fusions & Acquisitions
dbusquet@linkers.fr
Brian Higgins - Member of the Board
Partner, Rickitt Mitchell & Partners Limited
brian@rickittmitchell.com
Mark Lerner – Member of the Board
Founding and Managing Partner, Morgen Evan Advisory Services Ltd.
lerner@morgenevan.com
Nitin Arora – Member of the Board
Director, Corporate Catalyst India Pvt. Ltd.
nitin.arora@cci.in
1. Please tell us about your company.
Cypress is a Brazilian leading independent investment banking boutique focused on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and structured finance.
2. In which sectors is Cypress most deeply involved?
We are mostly involved in technology, energy, consumer goods, healthcare and education sectors.
3. What are the leading trends in the Brazilian market?
Brazil has become more noted for crises than commerce in recent years. The extensive money laundering and corruption scandal, and subsequent criminal investigation, known as “Operation Car Wash,” coupled with a weak economy, tainted the country and discouraged foreign investors.
Overall deal value and volume have been stagnant, with US$41.7 billion from 334 deals—a long way off the US$88.3 billion high set in 2011. The fall in inbound investment has been particularly pronounced, with value down 57% from US$34.8 billion three years ago to just US$15.1 in 2018. Inbound volume also plummeted to its lowest level since 2010, with only 120 deals announced last year.
The tide may be turning, with renewed attempts to court inbound investment. The first quarter of 2019 saw a marked increase in the previous two in terms of inbound deal value. The new regime, under President Jair Bolsonaro, is promoting a commercial agenda that includes a renewed focus on privatisations. Given the quantity and quality of assets that could come into the market, the government’s new focus is likely to spark renewed interest from foreign dealmakers in the world’s eighth-largest economy.
4. What is the importance of M&A Worldwide to your activities?
It’s always been important for publicity reasons. Close to half of our deals somehow involve an international component. Therefore, being part of a global organisation adds value to our international positioning.
5. Is the current political environment a pro or a con for your M&A activity?
We believe it’s now a pro. As described above, the election of the rightist president Jair Bolsonaro and the appointment of Paulo Guedes as a Finance Minister suggest a positive perspective for M&A – our 1stQ already reflects that.
6. How important is it for Cypress to attend the M&A Worldwide conventions?
M&A advisory is a people-business. Therefore, getting to know our partners, especially on a personal basis is extremely important.
Despite its relatively small population of 4.8 million people, Ireland ranked 11th in terms of GDP among EU Member States in 2017 and has been the European Union’s fastest-growing country for the past five years. Based on a Focus Capital Partners report, the following is a summary of Ireland’s economy, M&A landscape and outlook for 2019.
Ireland is an open economy largely dependent on international trade and heavily influenced by global markets. At present, Ireland’s economy is performing strongly and recorded trade goods exports of €140.83bn in 2018 - the highest total on record. Trade goods imports were €90.17bn last year, creating a trade goods surplus of €50.66bn for 2018. Services exports for 2017 amounted to €159.7bn while imports of services totalled €178bn, creating a net service deficit of just over €18bn.
The main exports during the year were medical and pharmaceutical products, which accounted for 33% of total goods exports. Imports of other transport equipment, including aircraft, accounted for 23% of the 2018 import figure. Computer services at €69.3bn remained the largest service export category in 2017 and accounted for 43% of total service exports in that year.
Gross value added in 2017 was dominated by manufacturing which accounted for 34%; this was followed by information and communication (10%) and wholesale and retail trade (8%).
Inflation is another indicator of economic growth in Ireland, currently standing at 1.1%. The interest rate has remained flat and in line with other EU members at 0%.
Regarding M&A transactions in Ireland, 2018 was one of the busiest years on record. Deal volume increased by 5% when compared with the previous year. However, deal value fell from €19.6bn in 2017 to €10bn in 2018; this was due primarily to a decrease in the disclosure of several deal values (65.3% of deals were not disclosed) and the exclusion of three particularly large transactions which occurred in 2017.
Focus Capital Partners believes 2019 and 2020 will continue to be good years for M&A activity in Ireland. However, it does not expect deal volume to reach the same level as in 2018 owing to a number of reasons, such as Brexit uncertainty and volatility in the global equity markets.
Of the deal values which were disclosed, deals under €20m were the most prevalent with 17% of the total deal volume. In excess of two-thirds of the deals disclosed were of less than €100m in value. Deals above €500m accounted for 43.5% of the overall value but only 1.1% of the deal volume.
From an analysis of the Irish M&A sector, IT & Telecoms recorded the highest number of transactions during the year. The financial services sector had the highest level of deal value in 2018. Focus Capital Partners expects that the largest consistent M&A growth will come in the software and med-tech sector. This is as a result of a high volume of spin-out companies from large enterprises such as Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Apple, Boston Scientific and Medtronic, all of which have European headquarters in Ireland. The Irish state through Enterprise Ireland provides financial and commercial support to early-stage companies and this has helped create a buoyant start-up scene in Ireland.
Interesting Irish companies to watch:
Name | Description |
---|---|
AID:Tech | Aidtech is one of the first companies in the world to apply blockchain technology to the aid industry, developing a system to bring more transparency to how support funds are used by charities, NGOs and governments. |
BHSL *** | BHSL is an Irish agri-tech company that has developed a unique, patented system to convert the untreated poultry manure into energy for heating, cooling and electricity generation to meet the energy needs of the farms. |
Everseen*** | Everseen provides a technology platform which helps prevent fraud and theft at the point of sale in shops. The firm aims to help retailers combat the $40bn in annual losses that are racked up globally due to non-scanning and other irregularities at points of sale. Everseen's platform is now used by five of the world's top 10 grocery retailers, including in the US. |
ApisProtect | ApisProtect is an Irish agtech company which provides real-time hive monitoring powered by satellite-enabled sensors retrofitted to existing beehives. The technology is used to monitor the health of more than six million honey bees in hives across Europe and North America. |
Glofox *** | Glofox provides apps and software which help fitness professionals run their studios in a more seamless way with a booking, payments, and member management system that's current and easy to use. |
Flipdish | Flipdish is an online food ordering business. The company builds apps, websites and online ordering platforms for restaurants and also provides data services to help clients understand customer behaviour. |
Orbidal *** | Orbidal provides a tendering platform which translates complex public procurement data into clear, comparable and useful information. The platform can also tell companies what their chances are of winning a contract before they go through the sometimes-expensive process of applying for it. |
CloudCARDS *** | Platform designed to manage the delivery and redelivery of leased aircraft. The company recently launched a 2nd platform which is designed for use by both leasing companies and airlines to manage the day-to-day technical and financial transactions involved in leasing. |
*** Existing Focus Capital client.
Focus Capital Partners, our Irish member, is a specialist in mid-market mergers and acquisitions, equity raising, debt financing, raising foreign capital and providing tax advice regarding the structure of deals.
1. Give us a brief outline of your academic and professional background.
I started my academic studies with a two-year technical degree in business, which was very general in nature. I chose not to be a specialist in anything at first but to acquire skills in various fields. After those two years, I got an MBA from a business school in Bordeaux with a corporate finance specialisation.
While studying for this MBA, I did a very interesting internship of several months at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore (USA), which had nothing to do with M&A. My mission was to monitor the profitability of a treatment. But then I ended my studies with an internship at MBA Capital where my boss was one of my finance teachers at school. And she still is my boss as I have remained with MBA Capital ever since.
It was natural for me to get a job which had a link with numbers, but I also needed to do something which required various other fields of expertise. M&A was the logical and perfect fit.
2. What has been your experience of the M&A industry to date?
I have been in this sector for over six years and so far it has fulfilled all my expectations. This job is enriching in many ways. It requires a large panel of skills as our clients expect us to advise them on many topics (finance, fiscal, law, etc), and we learn from every deal because each is completely unique. But most of all, each company has a different story to tell and it is on us to understand and share it. We are constantly learning, and this makes M&A very exciting.
3. What is the particular excitement with this job?
As I said previously, no two days are alike in this job and no two deals are the same. We always have to “discover” a company, an organisation, a sector. We always have to adapt, to find solutions, to get new ideas. This job is anything but monotonous.
4. How important is it for you to gain inspiration from other members around the world?
First of all, about M&A Worldwide: our international network is a huge opportunity to do more business and to do it better. It does not answer the question but this is a key point as the network widens the sphere of possibilities.
M&A Worldwide is a real source of inspiration and we can all learn from each other so as to provide a better service for our clients. During the most recent M&A Worldwide summit in Lisbon, we had a Young Experts Panel focused on typical deal process practices. This discussion got so intense as we all had different ways of working and tips or advice to share with each other. This is a session we should repeat and even broaden to “less-young” experts because I am sure it would benefit everyone.
5. Which phase of a deal process do you like the most?
The best moment is obviously when we sign the deal and drink champagne! But I consider that the most interesting phase is the beginning, when we start from scratch and need to analyse the company, understand its business and find the best way to tell its story. And the phases of negotiation of the LOI and the SPA are probably the most thrilling ones, with important upstream work on the strategy and the negotiation tactics.
6. Tell us your best experience in the current job.
No single specific experience comes to mind, but the biggest source of satisfaction is always seeing that we have satisfied our client and participated in the saving or creation of employment and in creating business by finding the best possible deal.
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