Cleantech M&A deals rise 73% Y/Y Jan-Aug – Peachtree

(ADPnews) – Oct 6, 2010 - Mergers, acquisitions and capital raises worth USD 10.2 billion (EUR 7.4bn) took place in the global cleantech sector in the first eight months of 2010, up 73% year-on-year, in a soothing sign that capital is steadily flowing into the sector again.

These are the estimates of the latest report of Peachtree Green Advisors, which recorded 206 transactions in the greentech sector between January and August versus 183 in the year-ago period.

The uptick in M&A activity is a welcome relief after a dismal year in 2009 which saw just USD 9.5 billion in deal value, a number that has already been surpassed in 2010.

The advisor group concluded that the picture for greentech M&A is perking up as debt is also returning to the sector. Debt is the catalyst for acquisitions, which leads to exits for investors and attracts more investors, as well as a driver of capital spending, which leads to increased revenue.

Cleantech transactions in the first eight months of the year were dominated by solar, whose value surged a whopping 92% year-on-year to upwards of USD 2 billion. Next came wind, biofuel and biomass. Smart energy distribution showed the biggest year-of-year change, up more than 1,100% to over USD 1.1 billion.

The largest deals struck during the period were Terra-Gen Power's USD 1.2 billion round of financing and ABB's (VTX:ABBN, STO:ABB) USD 1 billion acquisition of Ventyx.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.722)

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