Financing M&A

In an article titled “2008: Year in Review” in its “January 2009 Packaging Perspectives” report, Mesirow Financial (www.mesirowfinancial.com) also reported on the drop off in both second half 2008 activity and private equity funding. “Transactions [total global M&A] were also impacted by a severe tightening of the credit markets,” states the author, William J. Hornell, managing director for Mesirow Financial. “The commercial banks, investment banks, hedge funds, and high-yield markets that had fueled a spectacular run-up in leveraged buyout M&A activity collectively stopped providing capital for leveraged deals in 2008 … leveraged buyout deal volume fell an astounding 74 percent [in 2008].”