Companies in the digital, media and internet sectors have taken advantage of the open public markets, with no fewer than 18 IPOs completed in the first quarter of 2021, up from just one the previous year, according to research from global investment bank GCA Altium.
The global trend of listings has been headlined by food delivery platform Deliveroo’s highly publicised GBP7 billion IPO on the London Stock Exchange, as well as the USD13 billion deal for US dating app Bumble on the NASDAQ.
GCA Altium’s ‘Digital, Media and Internet Monitor’ also identified a series of global mega deals on the private markets. This includes the acquisition of Canadian telecoms business Shaw Communications by Rogers Communications for EUR17.2 billion, the purchase of UK cloud managed services provider Calypso Technology by private equity house Thoma Bravo for EUR3.1 billion, and the sale of US government technology business NIC to Tyler Technologies for EUR1.7 billion.
The rise of these larger deals has seen the total value of transactions in the sector almost double from EUR21.6 billion in Q1 2020 to EUR41.7 billion last quarter. Transaction volumes also rose, with the 832 seen in Q1 2021 the highest number since the start of 2019, and a 26 per cent rise on the 660 seen in the quarter before the first Covid-19 lockdown.
Read more/Source: Private Equity Wire
