Many of the financial headlines over the last 24-hourss were provided by another embarrassing event at the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), to say there’s room for improvement here is an understatement. However, the underlying news that triggered today’s report, in whatever manner the ASX may deem to report it, was the private equity firm TPG Capital Asia’s $651 million takeover bid for Infomedia, which soared +27.3% to $1.68 on the private equity bid.
M&A activity is rife across global equity markets, with private equity (PE) sitting on over $US10 trillion of cash looking for a home. PE now represents a growing share of the alternative investment market, projected to reach ~15% of total assets under management by mid-decade. Plus, local super funds have joined the party with a focus on infrastructure, commercial property, data centres, housing, and energy assets offshore.
Buying a stock hoping someone is running the ruler across it is not a specific investment strategy we employ – it’s simply too hard, plus the stocks in the crosshairs are often underperformers. However, if they look good on their own merit, it can add some great cream on the upside.
This morning we’ve singled out three companies that could be making headlines over the coming year.
