Legal News

Reporter's Notebook: Hot Industries for M&A

By Brian Harris

Just as with the hot topics in legislation these days, the hot industries seeing M&A activity are the life sciences/health care and financial services sectors.

Corporate attorneys seeing deals on the rise said many industries are witnessing an uptick in activity because any type of business could be looking to sell off non-core businesses or pick up revenue streams. But on the whole, pharmaceutical companies and health care technology companies are keeping busy with transactions as are banks and asset management companies.

Duane Morris' George Nemphos said he has definitely seen a rise in deals related to medical device technology. Media-related technology is also a busy area, he said, particularly where mobile communications and the Internet tie together.

On the financial services side, Nemphos pointed to deals involving electronic transfers among banks and the processing of consumer product transactions.

Paul Jaskot of Reed Smith said his firm's heavy focus on the financial services and life sciences sectors may be why he has seen so many deals in those areas. He said there are a number of large pharmaceutical companies looking to replenish the pipeline of new drugs coming to market.

Data security and record retention in the health care industry are also spawning a number of deals. Similar product lines are in the works in the financial services realm as well, Jaskot said. The financial reform legislation has created opportunities for large companies to buy up distressed assets and has created deal momentum in the asset management world, he said.

And the energy sector can't be forgotten.

"The renewable energy space continues to attract a lot of investment," Jaskot said.

Ballard Spahr's Brian Doerner also pointed to the energy, financial services and life sciences sectors as hotbeds for deals.

Aside from those areas, the chemical industry has kept Morgan Lewis & Bockius' Steven Navarro busy. He said there were a number of high-profile bankruptcies in the chemical sector that led to a number of spinoffs of assets.

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on September 20, 2010 (boomark / email).