Strategic buyers on the rise

TheDeal.com reports that when the Royal Bank of Scotland auctioned off its insurance unit, private equity firms were told not to participate because they weren't likely to win. This after several private equity firms had indicated interest. The story confirms what we've been saying for a while now, which is that strategic deals are trumping financial deals these days. People don't seem to trust the private equity guys all that much any more. No one wants to end up in a broken deal situation, and few think the financing is there. So companies hunting for a strategic fit now have a window of opportunity. Of course, they're facing a tougher financing climate as well. Are we back to stock deals?

For more:
- here's the article

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The return of strategic deals?