Ten years ago, private equity investors knew where the most secure investment opportunities existed. Countries like the United States and the United Kingdom provided stable governments, existing investment networks, and strong laws. Yet, in the past few years, we have seen private equity begin to migrate elsewhere. Yes, private equity investments have steadily increased in Southeast Asia and Africa, but one area of the world that remains relatively untapped is Central and Eastern Europe.
THOMA BRAVO ACQUIRES QLIK
Thoma Bravo recently made a market move in June in the tech space, purchasing a visual analytics company called Qlik Technologies. The purchase came after heavy pressure from activist hedge fund Elliot Management Corp. This is hardly their first play in software and technology; the private equity giant currently boasts a portfolio of 54 completed acquisitions in this field, which generates aggregate profits of $1 billion. Most recently, they’ve made headlines tripling Blue Coat’s EBITDA over three years and selling for $2.4 billion to Bain Capital in early 2015.
THE CRAFT BEER BUBBLE
Over the past couple years, the craft brewery industry has become a very attractive investment for private equity firms. For the beer industry, “2015 brought an unprecedented number of mergers, acquisitions and private-equity purchases.” (Nurin). You might have noticed the attention craft has received, more so than activity in the wine industry, and the growth in the number of breweries. The focus in craft investment, in particular, stems from the double digit growth it has seen over past six years, according to the Brewers Association. (Cohen).
CHINA’S GROWING INTEREST IN VC
BLACKSTONE’S REVIVAL OF INTEREST IN TEAM HEALTH
Team Health Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TMH) has experienced a gigantic surge in market value after the Wall Street Journal published reports rumoring that both The Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX) and Bain Capital have expressed interest in buying out the company and restructuring, with a deal possibly materializing as early as this month. Team Health Holdings specializes in physician outsourcing services and has been seeking firms to take it private for a long while already after an unsuccessful IPO and shares on the market diluting its $1.6 billion purchase of IPC Healthcare.