2021 Year-End PCB/EMS M&A Update
M&A activity in the PCB and EMS sectors in North America continues to be strong despite the COVID pandemic. According to our research, there were 23 M&A deals in the EMS sector in 2021 (compared to 24 in 2020) and 13 deals in the PCB sector (compared to nine in 2020). Some of the positive... Read More →
Year-End Preparation for Selling a Business
The end of the year is a great time for an owner to step back and take a bird’s eye view of the business. Whether you are thinking of selling in 2022 or 2030, taking the time to get prepared and organized will help save time and effort in the future. Here are some items... Read More →
What Does Private Equity See in the North American PCB Sector?
In the past few years, the investment by private equity (PE) firms into the PCB and EMS sectors has been increasing rapidly. Just in the past few months, APCT and Summit Interconnect have changed PE owners, American Standard Circuits was acquired by a PE firm, and Lenthor Engineering was acquired by a PE-backed firm. According... Read More →
Tips From Recent Sellers and Buyers
M&A activity is at a very high level in the PCB and EMS sectors, as well as in most sectors of the economy. We recently talked with a wide variety of buyers and sellers and scribbled down some of their insights (names not given due to confidentiality). 1. Keep the BS meter active As my... Read More →
2021 Mid-Year PCB/EMS M&A Update
M&A activity is booming in the U.S. as the nation emerges from the COVID pandemic. Thanks to video conferencing and adjustments in procedures, M&A was also pretty busy in 2020. Now that the economy has opened and everyone is traveling, more deals are being discussed. The tailwinds for increased activity are certainly present. Many private... Read More →
Keep Your Saw Sharp
My hobby is prairie restoration, which means that most weekends you will find me in the Cook County Forest Preserves near Chicago with a chainsaw or some other power tool. My favorite activity is to cut non-native invasive trees to make room for native plants and other ecological activities. Lately, we took on a project... Read More →
How to Stand Out Among Other Sellers
It is a very busy time in the M&A world. Many owners in the electronics industry, especially in the PCB and EMS sectors, are of retirement age. Meanwhile, there is a lot of interest from both competitors and private equity firms in making acquisitions in the space. Because there are a lot of deals happening,... Read More →
2021 COVID and Post-COVID M&A Outlook
The first quarter of 2021 was the busiest opening quarter ever for global M&A (since records started being kept in 1980), according to financial data company Refinitiv. The total global deal value was $1.3 trillion, a 94% increase over the same quarter in 2020, and which was feeling the effects of the pandemic. Q1 2021... Read More →
If I Were 20 Years Younger
We hear a lot of owners say, “If I were 20 years younger, I would…,” meaning they would make major investments or strategic changes if they had the time to realize the return on investment. Other reasons for not making investments are the lack of funds, lack of energy, etc. However, we feel that the... Read More →
The ROI of M&A
The common stigma surrounding M&A is that 80% of deals do not reach expectations. Still, deals grab headlines, and many companies use M&A as their primary growth strategy. Is there a disconnect between reality and the headlines, or is the stigma of M&A failure not really true? For sellers, the return on investment (ROI) on... Read More →