In a previous data study titled “Smart, Contrarian Private Equity Firms”, I wrote about private equity firms with prescient timing during the last recession… those that exited at the peak, just before the last recession, and those PE firms that acquired new portfolio companies at the lower valuations of 2009-2010.

Today, we’ll look at private equity firms that exited portfolio companies in January and February (and a few in the first part of March) of 2020, just prior to the onslaught of the Coronavirus. Here are those firms:

Companies offering telehealth and telemedicine services not only have the ability to help in a crisis, they will likely experience significant increased demand from the recent CoronaVirus outbreak. Our M&A Research Database currently tracks 25 private equity-backed portfolio companies offering telehealth services. Sample acquisitions below…

The trending private equity investment sectors for January 2020 are highlighted below with a few example transactions.

Data centric companies have become one of the most favored sectors for private equity investors in recent years. This trend started gaining momentum in 2011. Although private equity began exploring data analytics companies as an investment thesis in 2007 and 2008, the recession of 2009 – 2010 halted most PE investments across all sectors during this time.

The increased focus on data analytics companies is largely fueled by the adoption of predictive analytics (initially), and subsequently by machine learning and the rise in artificial intelligence. These applications require data (preferably good data) as the atomic input unit from which to learn. Input data informs machine learning much the same way our five senses input data into our brain, from which we derive patterns and develop predictive skills.

Data-as-a-product resonates with private equity investment preferences precisely because it is scalable, potentially quite profitable and not capital intensive (relative to scalability).

Private equity firms have made a number of investments in companies offering physical therapy services, including: general rehabilitation services, occupational therapy, sports injury recovery, orthopedic rehabilitation and pediatric therapy. Our Private Equity Database currently tracks 43 U.S. based physical therapy companies held by private equity firms.

The security industry overall has attracted significant attention from private equity investors in recent years. Private equity investments into security-related companies ranges from cybersecurity, home security, national security, private security, to security screening of goods crossing borders.

Our private equity database currently tracks 719 current platform portfolio companies with some element of security to their product or service offering. 73 of these investments were made in the last 12 months alone.

Gluten-free food has been a significant trend for the past decade, especially the last few years. Consequently, select private equity firms have made investments in companies that offer an assortment of gluten-free food.

Our research database shows 52 investments in gluten-free brands (collectively held by 42 unique private equity firms). Of these, 36 are current holdings, 16 prior investments. 2017 had the most investments of any year thus far with 9 gluten-free portfolio investments. By comparison, there were 6 in 2018 and 3 in 2019.

The trending private equity investment sectors for December 2019 are highlighted below with a few example transactions.

Headlines about private equity investments tend to focus more on the glamorous deals and faster-paced industries, particularly technology. Because of this, one might erroneously conclude private equity has curtailed investments in manufacturing companies. While it is true that manufacturing now represents a lower percentage of all private equity acquisitions compared to historical standards, PE firms still actively invest in the manufacturing sector.

In the last 60 days, our M&A Research Database has recorded 52 new private equity platform investments in manufacturing companies (there are even more add-on acquisitions in this space), of which pharmaceutical manufacturing was the most represented manufacturing category:

• Pharmaceutical manufacturing (5 investments)
• Automotive-related manufacturing (4 investments)
• Contract manufacturers (4 investments)
• Aerospace manufacturing (2 investments)
• Lighting manufacturers (2 investments)

Our Private Equity Database is specifically designed for middle market investment bankers to quickly identify those PE firms that will most likely have an interest in acquiring (or investing in) his or her client’s company. The single best way to determine this is to find PE firms that A) consistently makes acquisitions and B) have acquired similar portfolio companies already.