NEW YORK, Jan. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Deal, a business unit of TheStreet (NASDAQ:TST), hosted its annual forecasting event, The Deal Economy Event: Predictions & Perspectives for 2016. Held in New York City on December 3rd, the invitation-only event gathered some of the most influential members of the deal community for a series of discussions on the key trends and issues confronting dealmakers in 2016.
Videos from the event are available online. Below are some highlights from panels and speakers throughout the day:
James J. Cramer, Host, "Mad Money with Jim Cramer" & Co-Anchor, "Squawk on the Street," CNBC; Founder, TheStreet Inc. in a special keynote address:
"Now I know that it's The Deal conference which means we should speak of deals, but I think we've peaked in activity for the cycle given the rising rate environment. I expect more deals to occur, but have you noticed that the stock of the acquirer has stopped going up on the announcement of a deal. That's like a bartender announcing last call. Anyone who drinks after this is drinking at his own risk and most CEOs aren't bold or foolish enough to do that."
Adena Friedman, President, Nasdaq in the Sense of the Markets: Global Outlook panel:
"I think just generally speaking it's been a risk on environment overall in terms of M&A as well as capital raising in general in the equity space. So certainly with regard to M&A the interest rate environment, despite what might happen in December, will continue to be extremely attractive for buyers. I think also with the stocks at the levels that they are they also have equity capital that they can use to fund their acquisitions. So I believe that we'll continue to see a healthy environment for M&A."
Richard M. Jeanneret, Americas Vice Chair, Transaction Advisory Services, EY in the Sense of the Markets: Global Outlook panel:
"There is still room for M&A to run in 2016. There's a robust amount of cash on corporate balance sheets, and there are industries that need to consolidate. For the past two years, the average deal size has been up approximately 50%. That is a strong indicator of confidence, which has been missing since 2008. It is enabling dealmakers to take risk and the market is rewarding them for delivering substantial value creation."
Jason Thomas, Managing Director, Director of Research, The Carlyle Group in the Sense of the Markets: Global Outlook panel:
"I think it's a great time to sell. It's probably going to continue to be a great time to sell. The one nice thing in the U.S. when you have such large deal volume is that the acquisitions tend to lead to divestitures."
Todd B. Sisitsky, Head of North American Private Equity, TPG Capital in the Private Equity: What to Expect in 2016 panel:
"It has been a very good few years on the liquidity front. The prior five years people started to rebuild their portfolios and of course with increased strategic activity with an open IPO market there's been quite a bit of liquidity and exit activity. From what I can tell both from our deal flow inside TPG and from the industry it seems like there continues to be a lot of activity on the liquidity front. It continues to be an attractive market for exits."
Andrea Kramer, Managing Director, Head of Global Fund Investment Team, Hamilton Lane in the Private Equity: What to Expect in 2016 panel:
"I think for 2016 for us the focus is probably low, slow growth just generally as we look forward through 2016 and then into 2018. Not a whole lot changes. With that our view is it's probably going to come along with a fair bit of volatility, which is interesting for private equity, purchase prices coming down wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Generally I would say we're nowhere near bearish. I don't know if we're bullish but we think private equity is really interesting and continues to be an asset class that delivers."
Aileen P. Stockburger, Vice President of Worldwide Business Development, Johnson & Johnson in the Corporate Dealmakers: Examining Growth Strategies for Different Markets panel:
"We actually try very hard to use the same process and the same methodologies and the same rules regardless of where a deal is created. It's all still about value creation, creating value for your shareholders, so I think you want to be careful about loosening your rules too much because a deal is in one location versus another. So we follow the same process, we use the same metrics."
Bill McNichols, Senior Vice President Corporate Development & Business Alliances, Starbucks Coffee Company in the Corporate Dealmakers: Examining Growth Strategies for Different Markets panel:
"I think the point I would put on it is post-acquisition or post JV or whatever the structure may be I think that overseas will be maybe a little bit more rigorous in stress testing all of the integration assumptions for two reasons. Buying something, at the end of the day, I hate to be crass, is easy. You just pay the most money. Making money from what you buy is all about the value you drive post-acquisition. For us, we become increasingly really focused on that six months to a year timeline."
Supporting underwriters for The Deal Economy include EY, Pepper Hamilton LLP, William Blair, McKinsey & Company, W. P. Carey, Morrison & Foerster LLP, RR Donnelley Venue and Houlihan Lokey.
The Deal Economy Event: "Predictions & Perspectives for 2017" will take place on Thursday, December 1, 2016. For sponsorship and speaking inquiries about next year's event, please contact Emily Newman (212-321-5565; [email protected]).
About The Deal
The Deal is a media and technology company providing over 100,000 users with actionable ideas from its two services - The Deal & BoardEx. Law firms, investment banks, private equity firms and hedge funds use The Deal service to find their next deal and BoardEx to connect the dots between their organizations and clients. The Deal is a business unit of TheStreet, Inc. and has offices in New York, London, Washington, D.C., Petaluma, CA and Chennai, India. For more information, visit www.thedeal.com.
CONTACT: Ashley Klepach, 212.321.5048, aklepach at thedeal.com
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SOURCE TheStreet, Inc.
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