Piper Jaffray M&A Report Points to Continued Trend of Small and Mid-Cap Companies Exiting the Public Markets

MINNEAPOLIS, June 12  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- More and more small- and mid-cap companies are looking to exit the public markets and the trend is likely to persist, according to a recently released Piper Jaffray M&A report. The report titled, "Mergers and Acquisitions Insights: Going-Private and Public Take-Out Transactions," analyzes activity in the marketplace for large-, mid- and small-cap companies exiting the public markets.

In total, the number of companies exiting the public markets as stand-alone entities by either selling to strategic buyers or private equity groups in all-cash transactions increased 73 percent from 2005 to 2006, after increasing 34 percent from 2004 to 2005. More specifically, small-cap companies showed the most activity in going-private and public take-out transactions from 2004 to 2006 with 52 additional transactions compared to 41 mid-cap and 43 large-cap transactions*.

The reason according to Piper Jaffray, is that small-cap companies, in particular, realize fewer benefits from remaining public than companies with larger market capitalizations. In addition, the M&A environment remains vibrant for companies across all market capitalizations, including small-cap companies.

"While excellent opportunities exist for any public company to consider a going-private or public take-out transaction, the motivations are even stronger for many small- and mid-cap companies," said Robert Frost, managing director in investment banking at Piper Jaffray. "As a result, an increasing number of small- and mid-cap companies are considering a sale transaction."

Public companies have both internal and external market-driven motivations for pursuing going-private and public take-out transactions. Specifically, small- and mid-cap companies have many unique reasons for considering such transactions. Those motivations include:

  --  Impact from Sarbanes-Oxley regulation and public company costs.
  --  Less research coverage, lower trading volume and liquidity and limited
      access to capital markets for growth capital.
  --  Valuation discrepancy relative to larger companies.




The full Piper Jaffray report, "Mergers and Acquisitions Insights: Going-Private and Public Take-Out Transactions," is available for clients at http://www.piperjaffray.com/.

  * Source: Capital IQ, Securities Data Corporation and Piper Jaffray for
    transactions valued at more than $25 million based on enterprise value

  About Piper Jaffray


Piper Jaffray Companies is a leading, international middle market investment bank and institutional securities firm, serving the needs of middle market corporations, private equity groups, public entities, nonprofit clients and institutional investors. Founded in 1895, Piper Jaffray provides a comprehensive set of products and services, including equity and debt capital markets products; public finance services; mergers and acquisitions advisory services; high-yield and structured products; institutional equity and fixed- income sales and trading; and equity and high-yield research. With headquarters in Minneapolis, Piper Jaffray has 25 offices across the United States and international locations in London and Shanghai. Piper Jaffray & Co. is the firm's principal operating subsidiary. (NYSE: PJC; http://www.piperjaffray.com/ )

Since 1895. Member SIPC and NYSE. 

DATASOURCE: Piper Jaffray



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