Record amounts of money headed for PE funds

Record amounts of money headed for PE funds. M&A activity has been tipped to spike in the years ahead (note Toll Holdings bid this morning (VIEW LINK). Jeremy Bendeich from Avoca Investment Management says, M&A will increasingly play a role in the Australian equity market over the next year or two (particularly small caps) given: constrained top-line growth; cheap debt funding; asset recycling well under way in most private equity houses; and it just got 25% cheaper for offshore investors to buy Australian companies versus two years ago. You can add to this list a record amount of money being raised by Private Equity firms. CNBC reports, an all-time high of 2,209 private equity funds is seeking $811 billion from investors. Interestingly, an area of focus for some PE firms are distressed energy companies who are likely to be in need of financial assistance. Here is the CNBC article: (VIEW LINK)