There is an inherent disconnect in the M&A world between buyers and sellers over what companies should be trading for, which has resulted in a prolonged period of relative inactivity. Of course, it’s not ice cold. WTWH bought Aging Media last year and then just recently acquired CFE Media.
But there have been many examples of companies coming to market, testing to see what happens, even getting pretty far down the pike, and then seeing the deal fall through. According to a couple of sources I spoke with, in the last eighteen months, Endeavor, Questex, and Randall Reilly all didn’t quite make it to the finish line. And if we look at the AMO Private Equity Database, there are many other companies that have been owned for long past their fund’s maturation.
