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 in the second quarter 2001 compared to the same period last year, according to Whitestone Communications (New York).

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 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 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.