Business Services M&A Update

RESOURCE HIGHLIGHTS

• In Q4, the S&P CSE Commercial & Professional Services Index increased by 16.2% and outperformed the S&P 500, which increased by 3.0% over the same period.
• The median EV/EBITDA multiple in the Business Services sector for reported private equity deals increased to 17.2x in 2024 from 14.5x in 2023, but decreased for strategic deals to 6.7x from 7.7x in the prior year.
• M&A deal volume in the sector increased 7.5% in Q4 to 986 deals from 917 deals in Q3, and increased 16.5% from 846 deals in Q4 of the prior year.
• As a % of total capital invested in M&A transactions, PE participation increased substantially in 2024 to 61.8% from 50.8% in 2023.
• Europe was the most active region in Q4 with 471 deals. Most notably in Europe was Informa’s $1.6 billion acquisition of Ascential, a London-based provider of specialist information, analytics, events, and digital commerce, in October 2024.