WHITESTONE REPORT SAYS SECOND QUARTER M&A ACTIVITY STABILIZES.Following a significant drop in the first quarter, the number and dollar volume of mergers and acquisitions in the publishing, information and training fields stabilized sta·bi·lize v. sta·bi·lized, sta·bi·liz·ing, sta·bi·liz·es v.tr. 1. To make stable or steadfast. 2. in the second quarter 2001 compared to the same period last year, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Whitestone Whitestone may refer to:
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of ). Whitestone reported that the total number of deals (141 v. 140 last year) and dollar volume of deals ($5 billion v. $4.9 billion last year) were nearly identical between the second quarter this year and last year. Second quarter totals follow first quarter 2001 results which declined 85% to $2.6 billion from $17.2 billion in first quarter 2000. The number of transactions had also declined, going to 128 deals from 148 last year (Whitestone did not include the Time Warner/AOL deal in last year's totals). The largest deal of the second quarter was Vivendi Universal's purchase of Houghton Mifflin Houghton Mifflin Company is a leading educational publisher in the United States. The company's headquarters is located in Boston's Back Bay. It publishes textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers for $2.2 billion. Whitestone president Baran Rosen said that M&A activity stabilized in the second quarter along with the stock market. "Buyers generally felt they could sense the bottoming of an economic downturn Downturn The transition point between a rising, expanding economy to a falling, contracting one. downturn A decline in security prices or economic activity following a period of rising or stable prices or activity. and were ready to place their bets again," Rosen said, adding that M&A activity for the rest of 2001 "is not likely to run ahead of last year's pace." Whitestone noted that the dollar volume in the publishing, information and training fields also declined. The number of deals in the quarter fell from 73 last year to 53 in 2001, or 27%. The dollar volume of the deals declined 47%, going from $1.2 billion last year to $658 million. |
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