Buyout Pros Not Expecting Boom in Deal Volume
A new survey from BDO Seidman, an accounting and consulting firm, reports that buyout firms expect deal flow to rise, but not explode in 2010. Not revolutionary, but more hopeful than these types of surveys last year, which (correctly) predicted flat or declining deal flow for 2009. More interesting, to me, is that 93% of PE pros surveyed reported headcount reductions at their portfolio companies (what about at the firms themselves?), 81% have renegotiated debt and 83% have reassessed their market strategy. Nearly three in ten (28%) have declared bankruptcy for one or more portfolio companies, and 38% have engaged a turnaround professional. All that says to me is that amend-and-extends, along with other private equity techniques, must be working, at least for the short term. Update: The survey actually does address expectations around layoffs at private equity firms themselves. According to the survey, 86% reduced professional staff in the past year, and 40% plan to reduce more in the coming year. Guess those layoffs aren't all behind us. Read the rest of the results below.
