If you thought the buyout boom came to a shuddering halt last summer, the bad news is that deal activity is sliding ever further towards zero.
The latest data from Thomson Financial shows that while a slow trickle of LBOs got done in the final months of 2007, the beginning of 2008 has seen the volume of completed deals plunge even further. Those deals that have been announced are getting harder to push through to conclusion.
LBO volumes announced was just $827.7m globally in February, the first time the monthly total has failed to top $1bn since June 1998.
Yet the money keeps rolling into the private equity coffers. Valuations may be getting more attractive, but the need for private equity to get creative, in choosing, structuring and financing deals, gets ever greater.
