Fusion Corporate Partners

Berkery Noyes, an independent mid-market investment bank, has released its full year 2012 mergers and acquisitions trend report for the Online and Mobile Industry. The report analyses M&A activity in the Online and Mobile Industry during 2012 and compares it with data covering 2010 and 2011.

According to Berkery Noyes’ research, transaction volume increased four percent on a year-to-year basis and 37 percent relative to 2010. Total transaction value decreased 16 percent, from $76.73 billion in 2011 to $64.39 billion in 2012. However, this remained 49 percent above the industry’s aggregate deal value compared to 2010. The median revenue multiple improved slightly from 2.1x in 2011 to 2.3x in 2012, while the median EBITDA multiple declined from 11.9x to 10.8x. Oracle was responsible for two of the report’s top ten highest value deals in 2012. This included the acquisition of Taleo, a cloud based talent management provider, for $1.80 billion and the acquisition of Eloqua, a creator of marketing automation software, for $871 million.

In the mobile application subsector, the number of transactions increased 18 percent over the past year. Transactions involving mobile consumer applications increased 34 percent, from 121 to 162, whereas those pertaining to mobile business applications rose seven percent, from 158 to 169.

Meanwhile, volume in the E-Marketing & Search segment increased 44 percent from 2010 to 2011 and eight percent between 2011 and 2012. Much of this activity over the past two years highlights an interest in analytics and interactive marketing, as advertisers and others seek measurable results within targeted demographics. Accordingly, deal flow in the social media marketing subsector more than doubledsince 2011.

In addition, M&A in the Online and Mobile Industry was positively impacted by acquirer interest in enterprise collaboration. Such solutions include file sharing and email application tools, many of which contain a social component. Along these lines, Microsoft acquired Yammer for $1.20 billion, LinkedIn acquired SlideShare for $72 million, and Salesforce.com acquired GoInstant for $70 million.

M&A in the Communications segment, after rising 15 percent from 2010 to 2011, declined nine percent in 2012. The segment nonetheless saw strength in the mobile device management (MDM) subsector. MDM transactions nearly doubled over the past year, as a greater number of organizations begin to support personal devices in the workplace. “Given an increasingly mobile workforce, employees are clamoring for technology that will allow them to complete their jobs from any location while remaining connected with their colleagues,” added Mary Jo Zandy , Managing Director at Berkery Noyes. Mobile security also remains a concern when discussing bring your own device (BYOD) policies, which was highlighted by Citrix’s acquisition of Zenprise.

A copy of the ONLINE AND MOBILE INDUSTRY M&A REPORT FOR FULL YEAR 2012 is available at the Berkery Noyes website.