The Bidder Competition for Techem

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2008 in the subject Business economics - General, grade: 1.3, European Business School - International University Schloß Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel, language: English, abstract: A wrap-up of 2007 mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity discovers that the M&A volume reached new records throughout the year but rapidly declined after the subprime-lending crisis made credit markets tighter. During the next years, Investment Banks expect less mega-deals with the participation of financial sponsors. The share of financial investors in the total M&A volume has sunk from 36% in May to 14% in October 2007 (Köhler, 2007). The same holds true for private equity companies that are struggling to raise new debt capital for their investments ("Vergleich mit J.C. Flowers," 2008). Nevertheless, suggestions that the M&A boom has reached its climax and is about to come down may be premature. Especially for Germany, financial analysts expect a special economic cycle, as the M&A activity of public banks is expected to remain on the move. In general, the future trend is ambiguous; on the one hand, the credit crunch that already affected vast parts of global markets could also damage M&A activity. On the other hand, due to this crisis, new opportunities for large mergers and acquisitions may arise. According to Thomson Financial, the M&A volume for 2007 amounted to EUR3.0 bn due to record investments in the first half of 2007, compared to EUR2.5 bn in 2006 and EUR1.9 bn in 2005 (Köhler, 2007). Even more significant is the astonishing amount of high priced energy deals. Companies in the energy sector, having stable cash flows, will remain attractive targets. The energy sector, being one of the largest concerns of the global economy, is facing several simultaneous developments: with oil prices soaring, unrest in the Middle East and Russia exerting political pressure with its natural gas resources, the importance of M&A among energy companies is likely to increase in 2008. Especially government sponsored privatisation and market liberalisation programmes have provided the opportunity for investments in what were once state-owned monopolies (Deloitte, 2006)...