Deal Activity in Norway at Record Highs
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Deal activity in Norway at record highs Transaction Trends | Norwegian M&A update Q4 2020 EY | Strategy and Transactions Quarter highlights To celebrate our rebranding to EY Strategy and Transactions we present a revamped version of our transaction newsletter 166 $245m TMT tailored to the Norwegian transaction market1. # of transactions Average deal value this Most active industry with The renewed newsletter reflects all quarterly transactions involving a announced this quarter quarter 51 deals this quarter Norwegian target, buyer, or vendor, based on data presented by Mergermarket. Compared to the previous newsletter, which was focused on Highlights | Page 3 Key transactions | Page 5 Industry trends | Page 6 deal activity among the 500 largest companies in Norway, the revamped newsletter provides a more comprehensive view on Norwegian deal activity. We hope that you find this newsletter interesting and that you will follow our coming quarterly updates. 46% 37% 35 The Transaction Trends Editorial Team For further enquiries, or to add your name to the mailing list for this Share of foreign buyers Share of deals involving New listings on Oslo Stock publication, please send an e-mail to [email protected]. this quarter public companies this Exchange and Euronext quarter Growth this quarter 1 Buyer / target region | Page 7 Transaction arena | Page 8 Market update | Page 9 With effect from 1 July 2020 EY Transaction Advisory Services was rebranded to EY Strategy and Transactions. EY Strategy and Transactions: Enabling clients to reimagine their eco-systems, reshape their portfolios and reinvent themselves for a better future. Highlights | Key transactions | Industry trends 2 | Transaction Trends Q4 2020 Buyer/target region | Transaction arena | Market update EY | Strategy and Transactions Deal activity in Norway at record highs In Q4 2020, we observe a total of 166 deals in the In the LTM period we observe a total of 380 deals in 20,767 to 17,545) year-on-year. Norwegian market. This represents a major the Norwegian market. This represents a decline of 41 In terms of combined reported deal value in Norway, deals compared to the LTM peak observed in Q4 2019. increase from Q3 2020. Q1-Q3 was heavily Q4 2020 came in at USD 15.2bn, which is the 4th The decline in LTM deal volume is, not surprisingly, impacted by Covid-19. A strong Q4 brings the last highest reported deal value observed in the historical largely explained by the uncertainty caused by Covid- twelve month (LTM) deal count back in line with period covered by this newsletter. This coincides with 19 which heavily impacted deal volumes in Q1-Q3. levels observed prior to the pandemic. the pattern observed globally, where, deal values The deal volume in Q4 2020 (166) represents the amounted to USD 1 202.6bn in Q4 2020, compared to Deal activity is to a large extent driven by TMT highest level of transactions observed in any quarter in USD 806.2bn in Q4 2019, according to Mergermarket. assets, with the most notable TMT deals being the historical period covered by this newsletter. Both in Norway and globally, the high deal values are driven by an increase in large deals (above USD 5bn), Autodesk’s acquisition of Spacemaker, and This trend is echoed globally, with total deal volumes in such as Castellum AB’s bid on Entra (USD 5.8bn), which Mercell’s acquisition of Visma Commerce AB & Q4 representing the highest quarterly value since is included in the sample retrieved from Mergermarket. Visma Commerce AS. 2007. Total global deal value in 2020 saw a 7% decline year-on-year, while deal count was down 15.5% (from LTM number of transactions Source: Mergermarket, EY analysis 450 421 391 400 373 385 380 369 361 364 359 346 349 355 350 332 338 336 336 304 311 302 300 291 280 284 288 288 289 279 286 269 270 264 266 269 269 266 266 262 254 251 250 239 246 237 236 217 210 166 200 180 177 155 157 112 122 150 100 99 104 88 89 92 90 88 86 96 96 80 82 73 81 75 76 74 76 79 82 100 60 69 69 64 59 60 63 62 66 68 66 59 60 70 69 47 46 53 54 53 56 49 33 31 50 0 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Highlights | Key transactions | Industry trends 3 | Transaction Trends Q4 2020 Buyer/target region | Transaction arena | Market update EY | Strategy and Transactions Quarter highlights Number of transactions LTM number of transactions per industry LTM share of transactions involving Private Equity firms LTMSource: Mergermarket Source: Mergermarket Source: Mergermarket 166 61 Technology, Media and Private Equity 122 Telecommunications (TMT) Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility 112 104 89% 23% 100 99 31 96 96 31% 35 82 86 26 Last quarter 33 22 70 30 69 31 25 33 22 20 49 105 31% 21% 91 77 77 78 16 67 66 65 20% 57 48 53 49 33 Consumer 1Q18 3Q18 1Q19 3Q19 1Q20 4Q20 6% Other Public* Private Financial Services *Public transactions are defined as those where either the target, buyer or vendor company is a listed entity. Transactions this quarter Deals per industry PE deal activity The number of transactions observed in Q4 2020 is TMT was the most active industry in Q4 2020, with 21% of all deals in the last twelve month period significantly higher than the level observed in Q4 31% of all deals (51 deals in total). This is in line with involved a private equity firm. This is somewhat lower 2019. This is also the highest level of transactions the LTM TMT share of all deals of 31%. The high than the level observed in 2019 (23%), but still higher observed in any quarter in the historical period appetite for TMT assets is echoed globally, where TMT than the level observed in the historical period covered by this newsletter. was the most active industry, representing 19% of all covered by this newsletter (20%). deals in 2020. Out of 62 transactions with announced deal values, 24 The most active private equity firms in Q4 in terms of deal values exceeded USD 100m (three of these were Notable TMT deals involving Norwegian targets include number of deals struck (either as buyer or seller) were also above USD 1bn, namely Castellum’s bid on Entra the sale of Spacemaker to Autodesk at USD 240m, Verdane Capital (6 deals), Norvestor Equity (2 deals), (USD 5.8bn), EQT’s USD 1.6bn acquisition of and Mercell Holding AS’ acquisition of Visma Canica (2 deals) Accel Partners (2 deals) and FSN Torghatten and Scatec Solar’s USD 1.2bn acquisition Commerce AB and Visma Commerce AS. Capital Partners (2 deals). of SN Power. Highlights | Key transactions | Industry trends 4 | Transaction Trends Q4 2020 Buyer/target region | Transaction arena | Market update EY | Strategy and Transactions Key transactions this quarter 1 2 3 4 5 Avg. $1.6bn $1.2bn $240m $234m $152m $245m Deal value Deal On 23 December, EQT On 5 November, On 17 November, On 25 November, On 2 November, The average value of deals Partners AB offered to Scatec Solar ASA Autodesk Inc acquired Mercell Holding AS Statkraft AS completed among transactions with acquire Torghatten agreed to acquire Spacemaker AS, a acquired Visma the acquisition of Solar reported deal values this ASA, the leading private 100% of the shares in Norwegian provider of Commerce AB and Century Holdings quarter was USD 245m. passenger SN Power AS, a leading AI solutions to Visma Commerce AS, a Limited, a leading global transportation company hydropower developer. architects, from Sweden and Norway solar power company The number of transactions in Norway with an The acquisition is in Northzone Ventures AS. based provider of public that develops, where deal value was reported annual revenue of line with Scatec’s The acquisition provides procurement constructs and operate amounted to 62 (out of 166 transactions announced this Description approx. NOK 10bn and growth ambitions Autodesk with outcome- information and utility-scale solar and about 7,000 within renewable based design monitoring software, smart technology. The quarter). employees. The energy production. The capabilities for from Visma AS. transaction was Combined reported deal value transaction is set to transaction was architects, and urban completed at approx. 5x this quarter amounted to USD close at around 8x completed at approx. designers and planners. EBITDA. 15.2bn. This compares to an EBITDA. 14x EBITDA. average combined quarterly reported deal value of USD Advanced Power and Technology, Media Technology, Media Technology, Media 8.2bn in the historical period Manufacturing & Utilities and Telecom and Telecom and Telecom covered by this newsletter Industry Mobility (2008-2020). Highlights | Key transactions | Industry trends 5 | Transaction Trends Q4 2020 Buyer/target region | Transaction arena | Market update EY | Strategy and Transactions Activity by industry and observed multiples Activity by Industry # of transactions EV / Revenue1 EV/EBITDA2 Industry activity Avg. Q4 3Y 5Y 10Y 3Y 5Y 10Y Industry 2019 LTM Trend The majority of deal activity in the Norwegian transaction 08-203 2020 median median median median median median market in Q4 2020 was driven by the industries TMT (31%), AM&M (23%) and Consumer Products (15%). These Advanced Manufacturing & 78 85 16 38 1.2x 1.2x 1.2x 8.2x 8.5x 8.9x Mobility (AM&M) are also industries that have generated significant deal activity historically.