CLA sees Active Q3 M&A despite slowing volumes

At CLA we can help companies that are buying, selling, transitioning or raising capital.  When you think about from CLA’s Deal Services solutions we can help our clients with all of this. So, we are not surprised to see continued M&A activity in 2022.

With that being said, I do read the paper and would provide you with two current observations that I observe:

1. I am optimistic about deal activity going forward. While the public market has been volatile, the M&A market in the $2 mln to $10 mln EBITDA range has remained strong. There’s still a considerable amount of capital ready to be invested, so I think there will continue to be deals over the final quarter of the year and moving into 2023. The state of the economy at the end of the year will certainly drive people’s investment strategy going forward.

2. On both buy and sell sides, I’ve found that some processes are taking a little longer than they have in the past. Given the overall multiples and expectations of price, there’s potentially a gap between buyers and sellers. Sellers are still in the mindset of last year’s significant demand and high prices. But buyers are more timid given macroeconomic factors, leading to a gap in expectations and, subsequently, valuations. That said, multiples are still high across the board—although the question remains if multiples are going to remain as high as they have been over the last 12 to 18 months.

As you can see below, it has been an active year for us at CLA. We are curious about how you see the M&A market closing out 2022 and into 2023. So, let us hear from you we would like to get to know you and help you.