MountainWest Capital Network (MWCN) has released its 23rd annual Deal Flow Report, which provides an analysis of Utah’s capital market and the total number of transactions within the state during 2017.
The report revealed an increase in the number of capital transactions from 423 in 2016 to 514 in 2017. Notably, Utah’s tech industry has continued to grow with several companies acquiring smaller businesses. Major tech deals included Ivanti’s transactions totaling $1.1 billion and a single deal from Digicert Inc. valued at $950 million.
“It’s powerful to see Ut-ah companies are now getting big enough to do more of the acquiring rather than being bought by out-of-state businesses,” said Katie Chandler of Tanner LLC and chair of MWCN’s deal flow event. “As Utah’s economy continues to grow stronger, it’ll be interesting to see how capital transactions evolve in coming years.”
The report also found that the technology and software segment had the highest percentage of total transactions, but consumer retail saw a 6 percent increase over the past three years. Younique LLC, Woodside Homes Inc. and Nutraceutical International Corp. were all named in the top 10 mergers and acquisitions within the consumer retail category. The top three private placement transactions were all tech companies: Nikola Motor Co. ($520 million), Qualtrics ($180 million) and Domo ($115 million).
The Deal Flow Report is published annually by MWCN, a nonprofit organization, to further its mission of fostering the dynamic flow of information about capital formation and distribution. It also serves to educate and mentor, recognize and reward successful business performance and relationship fostered through networking. It does not report on transactions that were either confidential or otherwise not publicly disclosed.
The full 2017 MWCN Deal Flow Report can be viewed at https://www.mwcn.org/deal-flow/.