The amount of money moving among Utah corporations took a huge jump in 2016, according to the 22nd annual Deal Flow Report released recently by MountainWest Capital Network (MWCN). The report, which provides details of the health and number of deals within the state, showed funding for deals surpassing 2015 by almost double, from $10 billion to $19 billion. The number of deals totaled 423, which was down from the previous year of 524 deals.
According to the report, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) ranked highest in funding with $16.8 billion, almost tripling the 2015 mark of $6.1 billion. Private placement had the most deals with 206. M&A was second in number of deals with 202. The three largest transactions for 2016 were Dominion Resources Inc.’s acquisition of Questar Corp. ($6.1 billion), Boral Industries Inc.’s acquisition of Headwaters Inc. ($2.6 billion) and Dominion Midstream Partners LP’s acquisition of Questar Pipeline LLC ($1.7 billion).
In addition, the number of public companies in Utah that had capital investment in 2016 was slightly fewer than the previous year at 15, including Nu Skin Enterprises Inc.’s issuance of $210 million in convertible debt and HealthEquity Inc.’s issuance of almost $90 million in common stock. Within the four-year trend of the report, 2013 remains the strongest year for public company transactions, with 22 companies and $5.5 billion in total funding.
In industry deal trends, technology and software remained the highest in number of deals — though down from the previous year from 196 deals to 151. Consumer and retail deals remained the same at 72 deals, up from 2013, which had 47 deals. Healthcare deals were at an four-year low with 43 deals, compared with 67 deals in 2015 and a peak of 70 deals in 2014.
“Once again, Utah has shown a strong number of deals and this year set a record dollar amount of almost $19 billion,” said Quinton J. Stephens, an attorney with Ballard Spahr LLP and the chair of MWCN’s Deal Flow event. “It is no secret that Utah has one of the strongest economies in the nation and remains a hotspot for capital transactions, especially in the technology and software arena.”
The Deal Flow Report is published each year by MWCN to further its mission of fostering the flow of information about capital formation and distribution. It also serves to educate and mentor, recognize and reward successful business performance, and foster relationships through networking, the organization said.