The number of deals in May involving European tech companies was almost unchanged on the previous month, according to latest data from corporate finance firm Regent Partners. However, the rolling 3 month average value fell to $10.9bn as the $23.3b Liberty Global acquisition of Virgin Media (see here) dropped out of the analysis. Valuation multiples presented a mixed result as the price-earnings (P/E) multiple continued to fall to 13 but the price-sales (P/S) multiple returned to the Q1 level around 1.5.
The most significant acquisition in the UK software and IT services market was the secondary buy-out of public sector-focused Civica, which changed hands in a deal valuing the company at £390m (see here). But there were also a number of much smaller 'strategic' deals in the month, such as that of Glasgow-based Oracle services firm, velos-IT (see Velocity enters UK with velos-IT buy), and Accenture's dive into the world of 'design thinking' with its acquisition of London-headquartered international design consultancy Fjord (see here).
Eligible TechMarketView subscription service clients can catch up with the UK software and IT services corporate activity scene every quarter in IndustryViews Corporate Activity.