Making the most of mergers and acquisitions

Few major entertainment and media companies can achieve their desired geographic breadth and diversity of operations and revenue streams purely through organic growth. Mergers, acquisitions, alliances and also divestitures will continue to be necessary to enhance growth and to balance the business portfolio effectively between advertising, subscription and consumer product revenues. At the same time, convergence is driving deals between old and new media, and between delivery and content companies, whilst value is also being sought through deconsolidation.

Successful transactions demand access to capital markets, a strategy to attract and retain customers, the ability to identify new revenue streams, and a continual realignment of the organisation and culture. At the same time, the accounting, tax, and legal implications must be validated. The end goal is to improve share holder value while managing financial market expectations.

Thomas M. Rooney, Leader of our US Entertainment & Media Transaction Services team, believes that 2006 will top 2005 in terms of both deal volume and value in the US. According to Olivier Wolf, Partner in the European Entertainment & Media practice, "Significant activity in Media M&A has included a high level of Private Equity involvement and a long tail of smaller corporate ‘in-fills’ driving the total number of deals in 2005”.

How PricewaterhouseCoopers can help

We provide advice to both corporate clients and private equity houses on valuation, deal structuring, implementation, and post-deal integration. As dealmakers we have full access to due diligence and tax specialists and offer seamless, global solutions for both buy- and sell-side clients, based on extensive industry and market knowledge. We provide creative solutions for disposals, fund raising, IPOs and private equity.

PricewaterhouseCoopers M&A advisory services include advice on all aspects of acquisitions, disposals, private equity transactions and finance raising, including: