Market trends: bearish or bullish?

Indeed, close to 80% of the respondents feel positive about the industry's
prospects in the months ahead, and they have plenty of reasons to be bullish.
Deals such as the €2.3bn EQT-backed acquisition of Germany's Springer Science
publishing business and Apax's €1.08bn buyout of logistics firm Marken could
be a sign of things to come as debt financing becomes more readily available,
resulting in higher deal volume.

Nevertheless, a fifth of respondents still feel that the momentum built up over the last
few months of 2009 will be short-lived. Given the still challenging macroeconomic
environment, they also have a strong case in suggesting that this is merely a
temporary rise in activity.

Indeed, market expectations among industry professionals are still divided, and
not without reason. One has to look no further than the recent flurry of headlines
regarding private equity-backed IPOs, where many of the hopeful and much touted
aspirants have been shelved in recent weeks.

At the same time, secondary buyouts seem to be making a comeback, albeit not in
large numbers, as debt markets are beginning to thaw.

Predicting any trends in the current market is more akin to gambling, as today's
developments seem to be just as easily reversed tomorrow.

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• Topics
• Southern Europe
• Investments
• Apax Partners
• EQT