Mergers and Acquisitions Continue to Dominate Exit Scene For Full Year 2006

IPO Market Showing Some Signs of Improvement reports National Venture Capital Association and Thompson Financial:


New York, NY- January 2, 2007 – Twenty-one venture-backed companies raised $1.835 billion through initial public offerings (IPOs) and 56 venture-backed M&A deals were reported in the fourth quarter of 2006 according to the Exit Poll report by Thomson Financial and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). The data reflect another year of heavy reliance on the M&A market for VC investment exits with a total of 58 venture-backed IPOs raising $5.3 billion in 2006 and 335 M&A transactions with a total disclosed value of $16.6 billion for the full year.

In terms of number of exits, 2006 venture-backed activity in both the IPO and acquisition markets varied only slightly from 2005 levels although these transactions realized higher valuations. The year 2006 marks the second strongest IPO year in terms of dollars raised out of the last six years and it is also the third strongest of the last six in terms of average IPO amount. The average acquisition value for a venture-backed company, for those deals where the acquisition price was disclosed, is the highest in six years at $113.8 million per deal.