Media Highlights

“We have now started to see stabilization with businesses meeting earnings expectations due to cost reductions, the equity markets showing more strength and a peaking of interest rates which is allowing companies to tap the equity markets again and deploy capital to do M&A deals.”

Our Partner and Head of M&A Wayne Kawarabayashi discussed with Chris Nolter of The Deal his expectations for M&A activity to accelerate from now into 2024.

Managing Director Emily Todd Anderson shared her perspective for an anticipated pick up in PE activity, and discussed what drove slowing PE exits this year coming off a hot 2021. Read more of her thoughts from an interview with Alex Webb at Bloomberg Businessweek.

“In all the conversations we’re having with early to mid stage companies who tout themselves as AI, our first set of questions includes what’s really defensible?”

Our co-founder and President Ted Smith discussed the current AI market including what companies are ripe for buyouts and how small companies need to consider defensibility in an interview with Chris Nolter of The Deal.

After a tough first half of 2023, “green shoots are starting to appear now, deals are being talked about and they’re getting done,” according to our President and Co-Founder Ted Smith during a recent appearance on Bloomberg News “The Close.” Check out why Ted is so optimistic about the deal environment starting at 1:03:38.

Managing Director Emily Todd Anderson shared her insights with Angus Loten on where tech startups and their investors currently stand as public markets are surging. Read her outlook in The Wall Street Journal below on how current market and geopolitical conditions are impacting the world of startups.

“Larger direct lenders who might have financed venture deals are stepping into what was historically a bank capital opportunity for less risky deals.”

Director Jono Peters sat down with Robin Goldwyn Blumenthal to discuss how our team is busy getting deals done as mid-market venture lenders are filling the current void in venture banking. Read his outlook on venture debt in Private Debt Investor.

Apollo’s private Wolfspeed deal marked one of the largest private credit deals for a public company. Managing Director Michael Moore sat down with Sami Vukelj of 9fin to discuss how the deal highlights private credit as an attractive option for large borrowers.

Read Michael’s insights on how this transaction speaks to the fact that private credit can do these types of deals with speed and certainty.

Consolidation in the e-sports and video game sector is on the rise, as the industry faces a challenging downturn. Managing Director Todd Holman shares the latest on our views in the space with Mergermarket.

The thinking behind current deals is ‘which of my portfolio companies can I use to acquire AI assets in order to turbocharge those portfolio companies, rather than what are the interesting early- to mid-stage AI companies out there that I can acquire independent of my portfolio today?”

Our Co-Founder and President, Ted Smith recently discussed the state of the #AI #IPO market with Bloomberg’s Natalia Kniazhevich. Read some of his insights in Natalia’s latest piece.

“Artificial Intelligence is developing so quickly. It’s going to have scale and direct impact so quickly that people are trying to place their bets there to really get a handle on it. I’m not an #AI expert at all but I think that’s one where if you’re not out in front of it, you’re going to miss out.”

Our Managing Director and Head of Sponsor & Venture Coverage Emily Todd Anderson sat down with Liana B. Baker and Kamaron Leach to discuss her role at the firm, advice for career advancement and where this year is headed in terms of deal flow. Read some of her insights on changing market dynamics and our current focus on AI in the Bloomberg Deals newsletter

Our Co-founder and President, Ted Smith and Partner and Head of M&A, Wayne Kawarabayashi chatted through where tech M&A is headed this year with Marina Temkin, CFA at PitchData Although deal making is now a lengthy and more diligent process, there is no longer a large rift in price expectations between buyers and sellers and they argue a rebound in acquisition activity is on the horizon.

Ted joined the latest episode of Accenture Ventures ‘An Insider’s Guide to the Silicon Valley’ to talk about how to build a successful company, SVB & his outlook on the economy for founders, and his advice for boardrooms right now.

Great insights from Jono Peters on our capital markets team on trends in preferred equity in the PE world amidst rising interest rates.

Our President and Co-founder Ted Smith joined Bloomberg Markets radio with Paul Sweeney and Matthew Miller to discuss the future of tech M&A. Tune in at 28:25.

9fin: The ‘old school’ credit metric that’s suddenly back in fashion

“Large enterprise software players are going to have to respond to this next generation use of AI in their own offerings or they risk falling behind.” Our President and Co-founder Ted Smith discussed the future of tech and why we expect to see increased deal activity in the AI space this year with Romaine Bostick and Scarlet Fu on this episode of Bloomberg News “The Close.” Tune in to Ted’s interview at 1:51:45.

“Whether it’s protecting everything we are doing online, anti-fraud or securing critical infrastructure, cybersecurity solutions have become crucial parts of everyday life.” Wayne Kawarabayashi, our partner and head of M&A, expects tech M&A activity to be particularly hot within cybersecurity this year. Check out his other tech related outlook perspectives featured in PE Hub.

“While it isn’t the case across all potential sellers, some sellers will be willing to accept a lower price if current market valuations remain depressed and they have a need to sell.”
Our Partner and Head of M&A, Wayne Kawarabayashi shares his thoughts on tech M&A in 2023 with Angus Loten of The Wall Street Journal Pro VC team.

Today’s Bloomberg Deals newsletter features our Partner and Head of M&A, Wayne Kawarabayashi’s conversation with Trista(Xinyi) Luo and Liana B. Baker regarding our 2023 Outlook Report. Wayne shares his biggest takeaways on this year’s M&A market, thoughts on new technology like ChatGPT and more. Check it out.

“Union Square [Advisors] said it anticipates a recovery in deal-making activity sometime this year because there’s simply too much capital in firms’ reservoirs and on corporate balance sheets for it to sit idle for too long.” Venture Capital insights from our 2023 Outlook Report are featured in The Wall Street Journal Pro VC Newsletter. Check it out.

Great insights from our COO and Head of M&A Wayne Kawarabayashi on how dealmakers and investors can navigate a tricky 2023 deal environment in Carter Johnson’s latest piece for Insider Business. Read more about what Wayne and other top dealmakers are watching.

The first week of 2023 is showing a positive reaction to economic data for the credit markets. Our Managing Director, Michael Moore shares his predictions that institutional deals will come forward in the near term and other privatecredit forecasts in the latest 9fin LevFin wrap up.

As we head into 2023, the Tech M&A regulatory environment is getting tougher. Our Head of M&A, Wayne Kawarabayashi shares his predictions on how U.S./China political tensions will affect cross-border transactions in the latest edition of Dan Primack’s Axios Pro Rata Newsletter. Check out what he’s expecting next year here: https://bit.ly/3VbYoTA

As private credit continues to heat up, our Capital Markets Managing Director Michael Moore has message for public issuers: “If you don’t have to go out into this market right now, don’t go today.” However, he strongly advises that folks should be ready to go at a moment’s notice to take advantage of expected air pockets of opportunity in the new year. Find out what Moore believes CFOs and bankers can expect in 2023.

Managing Director and Head of Sponsor Coverage, Emily Todd Anderson spoke with PitchBook Data about trends to watch in the startup dealmaking space. With M&A expectations on the rise for 2023, it’s likely we’ll see an increase in startup-to-startup deal activity.

In an appearance on CNBC TechCheck our Co-Founder & President Ted Smith discussed #techmna, defensible business models and how if companies need to sell, they “simply have to accept the current valuation realities.” Watch the full segment with anchors Carl Quintanilla and Deirdre Bosa at https://cnb.cx/3hrg6E6

In a recent interview with Sujeet Indap at the Financial Times, our Co-Founder & President Ted Smith discussed the advice he is sharing with BoDs and management around valuations, given rising interest rates and a potential recession. “If you are two years from your IPO and an initial price spike, then the company’s current market price is much more important to assessing value in a potential transaction.” Read more here.

Our Co-Founder & President, Ted Smith and Managing Director & Head of Sponsor Coverage, Emily Anderson shared their insights about the unique dynamics shaping the current tech M&A environment with MK Flynn at PE Hub. Interested in why they believe we’re amidst a “tale of two cities”? Read more here.

In a recent Credit Brief Q&A with Jill Shah of Bloomberg on the topic of advising borrowers, our Capital Markets Managing Director Michael Moore says, “If you’ve only lined up two or three potential parties at the table to evaluate that capital, you may be left at the altar without a solution.” You can read the entire piece discussing everything from Citrix to the state of the private credit market here.

Michael Moore, Managing Director on our Capital Markets team, sat down with David Bell to discuss his outlook for private credit markets as well as the growing competition in the space.

Our Co-Founder and President Ted Smith, talked #techmna and the #PE deal space telling @Bloomberg “most tech corporate balance sheets are flushed with cash, and they want to put that to work.” Watch his segment at the 2:40 minute mark!

Ted Smith, our Co-Founder and President, joined CNBC TechCheck Check to discuss his outlook on #techmna for the remainder of the year & how PE deal volume has strengthened YTD. Where does Ted see the most activity happening between now and the end of the year?

Now that summer is over, should investors expect to see #mna activity ramp back up? Our Partner and Head of M&A Wayne Kawarabayashi tells Mergermarket that players are “itching to do deals” but that “getting the stars to align” remains a challenge.

Our Head of M&A, share his mid-year review.

Take a listen to our President and Co-Founder Ted Smith’s interview on Bloomberg Radio with Paul Sweeney and Kriti Gupta, where he discussed exit options for tech companies, capitalmarkets and dealmaking trends in private markets.

“A confluence of factors is putting pressure on the industry” – comments our Head of Capital Markets Mike Meyer in a Mergermarket story on trends like rising interest rates and the hunt for yield impacting #privateequity and #LBOs.

Our Managing Director on the Capital Markets team, Michael Moore recently spoke with Nina Trentmann at The Wall Street Journal about the challenges firms are facing in securing funding in debt markets due to rising interest rates, high inflation, and economic uncertainty.

As market volatility ensues, our Partner and Head of M&A Wayne Kawarabayashi discussed with PitchBook Data why several #startups are having dual-track conversations when weighing their exit options.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, our Co-Founder and President Ted Smith shared his insights on Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, and how it reflects the growing demand for software applications that support virtualization.

In a recent interview with Alexandra Garfinkle of Yahoo Finance, our Managing Director Will Andereck shared his expectations that hybridwork technologies will be a hot spot for tech deals this year.

In an interview with Private Debt Investor, our Partner and Head of Capital Markets, Mike Meyer discussed senior debt and how the current global economic back drop is impacting markets and volatility.

Our Managing Director and Head of Sponsor Coverage Emily Anderson was recently featured on PitchBook Data’s ‘In Visible Capital’ podcast to discuss drivers of PE & M&A volume, trending sectors in the PE space, current volatility in the market, and more.

Our Co-Founder and President Ted Smith recently discussed his outlook on #tech deals amid market volatility, inflation and the conflict in Ukraine on Bloomberg LP’s “The Tape” podcast.

In a recent interview with Barron’s, our Co-Founder and President Ted Smith discussed what’s driving the slowdown in IPO issuances, following a record-breaking year for deal making in 2021.

In a recent interview with Moneywise, our Managing Director Todd Holman comments on Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Activision and why the gaming industry has been on the forefront of M&A activity.

In a recent interview with The Deal’s Chris Nolter, our Co-Founder and President Ted Smith, Partner and Head of M&A Wayne Kawarabayashi and Managing Director Andrew Atherton shared insight into the recent valuation crunch that has hit the enterprise software space and how it is spurring transactions. Learn more about why these technology companies are specifically focused on larger, needle-moving transactions.

“The holy grail is to be able to stream games live across various devices to enable true cross-platform gaming, where one player using an Xbox can play against another on a PlayStation.” Our Managing Director Todd Holman and Mark Andress at Mergermarket discussed the future consolidation of the gaming space.

Our Co-Founder and President Ted Smith recently spoke with Yahoo! Finance about why we predict 2022 will be another very active year for tech deal making, including our expectations for a tremendous amount of deal activity in the software space.

We are pleased to announce that Will Andereck, Todd Holman and Erich Fritz have all been promoted to Managing Director, effective immediately. Check out this write up on their new roles featured in The Deal.

GenZ bankers are now the youngest employees on Wall Street and are helping shape the future culture of the industry. Our Partner Devon Ritch recently spoke with Business Insider’s Reed Alexander to discuss how our firm is adjusting our flexible work environment to be more accommodative to junior bankers’ needs.

Co-Founder and President Ted Smith recently shared his insights with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang around the welcoming environment that is behind the explosion of tech mergers and acquisitions. Watch why we expect these dealmaking trends to continue in 2022.

In a recent interview with Business Insider’s Reed Alexander, our Partner Devon Ritch shared insight into how we have adapted our training for first-year analysts in a hybrid deal-making environment. This included adding “office hours,” where senior bankers set time aside to meet with junior bankers to discuss the inner workings of a deal and get them excited about their career.

Ubaid Dhiyan published a byline in CISO magazine, on why businesses should be invested in digital.

PayPal’s rumored acquisition of Pinterest has been making waves in the tech dealmaking scene. Our Managing Director Emily Todd Anderson recently discussed with The Deal how this deal would follow recent trends in finance and fintech media transactions.

Our Managing Director Emily Todd Anderson recently spoke with The New York Times to discuss insights into why PayPal might be interested in acquiring Pinterest.

Managing Director Andrew Atherton spoke with Yizhu Wang at S&P Global Market Intelligence about the strategies fintech companies have leveraged to find success in the public market, including adding software revenue streams on top of payment processing capabilities.

In a recent interview with the Financial Times, our Managing Director Andrew Atherton comments on how he views Square’s bold acquisition of Afterpay as a bull market deal.

Over the last 12 to 18 months, it has been encouraging to see several developments in the deployment and use of enterprise technology. Ubaid Dhiyan recently spoke with Forbes’ Joe McKendrick about the exciting opportunities he sees for entrepreneurs in terms of technology and innovation, including the use of AI for consumer applications.

Managing Director Emily Todd Anderson recently spoke with Mark Andress at Mergermarket to discuss the growing role that private equity is playing in ecommerce transactions. Recognizing the expansion that is still ahead for the ecommerce space, PE firms are looking to acquire companies that provide end-to-end ecommerce enablement offerings.

Director Todd Holman comments on mobile-app company AppLovin’s possible M&A strategy and how it will be key for investors moving forward.

Mike Meyer, Partner and Head of Capital Markets, spoke with Creditflux for their “Credit Rendezvous” feature. Among other things, Mike weighed in on the timely topic of SPACs — “The boom in SPACs opens up a whole new capital market as a buyer for our product… When we have a sell-side M&A mandate we can sell to a private equity firm, we can sell to a strategic buyer, or now we can sell to a SPAC.”

In a recent interview with Insider, our Managing Director Mark Villanueva discussed what capping investors’ voting rights means for creditors and why he expects to see this language in more acquisition-linked financing.

Partner and Head of our Capital Markets team, Mike Meyer recently spoke with The Wall Street Journal to discuss how a CFO can best prepare when a SPAC comes a calling. As the SPAC boom continues, it may be harder for CFOs to find an auditor.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg LP, our Partner and Head of Capital Markets Mike Meyer says he expects the recurring revenue lending market to explode this year as the demand for yield and credit continue to increase.

Our Co-Founder and President Ted Smith recently spoke with Yahoo Finance about valuations and the recent surge in SPACs over the past twelve months.

Software Director Ubaid Dhiyan talks to Crunchbase about why he believes the 2020 explosion of SPACs will continue this year.

Software Director Ubaid Dhiyan tells Crunchbase News why we can expect a busy year for deal making in and around the Kubernetes sector.

In a recent interview with Crunchbase News, our Software Director Ubaid Dhiyan explains why he will be watching the cloud and containers next year.

Software Managing Director Andrew Atherton says he expects that cybersecurity will be a “red hot sector” for tech deals next year, as investors continue to pour piles of cash into that space.

Ted Smith joined Bloomberg Technology to discuss his 2021 Outlook and what’s to come for tech M&A and the IPO market.

Ted Smith weighs in on the 2021 Tech M&A outlook.

Ted Smith weighs in on 2020 Presidential Election uncertainty and tech M&A.

Our Partner Mike Meyer talks to Refinitiv about the “rush” to get deals done in the US leveraged loan market as we enter the final stretch of the 2020 election.

In a recent Refinitiv interview on leveraged buyouts, our Partner Mike Meyer comments, “direct lenders essentially have their own syndication desk” and will not only underwrite the first-lien loan, but also “take down” the second-lien loan as well.

As technology M&A activity continues to rise, Ted Smith tells the Puget Sound Business Journal that artificial intelligence and machine learning companies are “ripe for acquisition” particularly in the Seattle region.

Our Co-Founder and President Ted Smith joined Emily Chang on Bloomberg Technologies to discuss this year’s hot tech IPO market including the latest news on Airbnb, Bumble and Palantir.

Union Square Advisors served as financial advisor to Fastly Inc. in its acquisition of Signal Sciences.

Union Square Advisors served as financial advisor to Fastly Inc. in its acquisition of Signal Sciences.

Director of Software, Ubaid Dhiyan, discusses what will make for a successful technology venture in a post-COVID-19 world.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, our Co-Founder and President Ted Smith explains that the Airbnb IPO shows the “resilience of the tech industry” amid the COVID headwinds.

Our Co-Founder and President, Ted Smith, told Business Insider that while he has high hopes for the tech IPO market, he believes “the vast majority of exits of venture-backed companies in tech are still going to come from M&A, not an IPO.”

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As conversations continue around Microsoft’s potential acquisition of TikTok, Director of Software Ubaid Dhiyan shares his take on Microsoft’s ongoing consumer and enterprise acquisition strategy with The Wall Street Journal

Union Square Advisors served as exclusive financial advisor to Sumeru Equity Partners in its $100M Investment in SocialChorus

Union Square Advisors served as exclusive financial advisor to Sumeru Equity Partners in its $100M Investment in SocialChorus