In the U.S. middle market, with more economic visibility in hand, once-passive buyers are taking more decisive action on pursuing acquisitions. Sellers, on the other hand, believing a warming economy will bring even higher valuations down the road, are willing to hold off, according to Citizens Commercial Banking's Middle Market M&A Outlook 2015. Even if companies are not actively considering a sale, or are waiting for more lucrative offers that an expanding economy could bring, the logjam in middle market deal-making appears to be breaking."Buyers have decided: I'm in or I'm out," Bob Rubino, head of corporate finance and capital markets for Citizens Commercial Banking, told Thomson Reuters LPC in an interview prior to the study's Tuesday release. "I think that will intensify and accelerate M&A discussions in 2015."More executives now have enough market and industry insight to come off the fence. If last year nearly half of mid-market firms were only passively receptive to buying opportunities, in 2015 companies have reached a "tipping point." Improving economic growth is pushing executives either to pursue strategic acquisitions or stay the course, concentrating on organic growth, the report, based on a survey of more than 450 business owners and executives, said.One quarter of mid-market organizations are now actively involved in the acquisition of another firm, up from 17 percent last year. This is especially true among larger mid-market firms. At 46 percent, nearly half of those with between $100 million and under $2 billion in revenue are currently involved in a purchase, up from 30 percent last year.
Thomson Reuters Corporation (Thomson Reuters) is a provider of information for the world?s businesses and professionals. Shares of TRI traded higher by 1.45% or $0.56/share to $39.23. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $33.21 and as high as $41.44. On average, 776519 shares of TRI exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 330196.
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