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Advent buys Nielsen's Global Connect business for $2.7 billion, Morgan Stanley's David Miller talks higher multiples, 2020 election perspective for private equity dealmakers
 
Monday, November 02, 2020
 
 
Good morning!

This is Sarah, in for Chris, who’s out of “office” for the next couple of weeks. It’s the eve of the election and it seems we’re headed into a period of constant distraction. For now, private equity dealmaking carries on.

Advent has agreed to buy Nielsen Global Connect from Nielsen Holdings for $2.7 billion, the seller said on Sunday. The Boston-based private equity giant is partnering with former TransUnion CEO James "Jim" Peck on the deal. Read our brief for more info.

Market dislocation: Private equity firms are putting more equity into deals as select companies trade hands at multiples slightly higher than pre-covid, Morgan Stanley Investment Management's David Miller said at a recent virtual private market panel.

That said, those lower-performing companies are not being sold by private equity firms at the moment: “Certainly, folks want to sell assets that have performed very well. There is a lot of demand in the market, so sellers are getting good multiples. You’re actually seeing good deals getting done,” said Miller, head of Private Credit & Equity at the firm.

“Businesses that are struggling are not being sold by private equity. If the asset is not performing very well there is no point in selling it because nobody is going to get credit for it when covid is over,” he added. Check out Milana's full report.
 
 
 
Top Scoops
 
Five-plus years into its investment, HGGC has completed the sale of Selligent Marketing Cloud, an AI-powered omnichannel marketing automation platform. The buyer is CM Group. Financial terms were not disclosed. Read our brief on PE Hub.
 
 
 
About seven in 10 Americans believe Tuesday’s election is the most important one of their lifetimes, according to a recent YouGov poll. We don’t have a similar poll for private equity pros, but there’s no doubt the outcome of this election could have a major impact on the industry. In just one example, if Democrats win the presidency and the Senate, PE’s longtime dream of accessing billions of dollars in 401(k)s would be in jeopardy, industry sources say.

As an added benefit, PE Hub has collected analysis and perspective generated by our colleagues at Buyouts, PEI and other titles to offer some exclusive perspective around the 2020 elections. Check out their coverage on PE Hub.

That's it for today's rundown. As always, email me with any tips, comments or just to say hello!

Sarah

HOUSEKEEPING

LP Insights: We're running a survey to get insight into limited partner thinking in today's market. Take the survey here and share your thoughts with us: Take the survey.
 
 
 
 
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