NEWSLETTER of March 12, 2021

The following content has been added at finexpert:

Webinar "Intensivkurs Financial Modeling" 18. - 20. Mai 2021 4.30 to 7.30 p.m.
finexpert | Handelsblatt Fachmedien >more

• Integrated, monthly liquidity planning, with P&L, balance sheet and cash flow statement.
• Detailed, step-by-step development with Excel based on a case study
• Scenario and sensitivity analyses
• Handover of the finished Excel model

CMS Hasche Sigle
SPECIAL PURPOSE ACQUISITION COMPANY (SPAC): BOOM OF THE SHELL COMPANIES
They promise a quicker and more discreet way to go public. SPACs are special purpose acquisition companies, i.e. companies with the sole aim of going public in order to take over another company. The model seems attractive: more and more companies are interested in going public via SPAC. IPOs, they say, are too costly, while the new alternative is fast and uncomplicated. At present, this is only possible for German companies in the USA - but the first investors are in the process of placing so-called SPACs on the German stock exchange. >more

Bain & Company
HIGHER VALUE, LOWER RISK: ESG FINANCE MOVES TO THE BANKING MAINSTREAM
Financing for projects tied to sustainability—covering a wide swath of environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations―is enjoying rapid growth. The trend is most advanced in Europe, with other regions moving in the same direction. Many banks pursuing the business of ESG-linked loans and bonds have discovered that they do not face a financial trade-off. New analysis by Bain & Company shows that the higher costs of diligence and reporting are offset by a lower cost of risk. >more

BCG
DECODING THE COMPETITIVE SOFTWARE M&A MARKET
The M&A market for software companies has been booming. The cumulative value of software M&A deals soared to an all-time high in 2020 even as overall M&A activity decreased. And the volume of software deals has continued to grow, approaching the record level of the dot-com bubble. Nontechnology companies and financial sponsors are helping to fuel the hot market, as they increasingly join traditional technology players in pursuing software targets. However, our analysis found that, on average, these nontraditional strategic buyers struggle to create value one and two years after an acquisition. This suggests that they are overpaying for targets or that they are not certain about how to create value. >more

I-ADVISE
STUDIE ZUR UNTERNEHMENSBEWERTUNG BEI GESELLSCHAFTSRECHTLICHEN BEWERTUNGSANLÄSSEN
Now in its seventh edition, the study on company valuations in corporate law valuation events shows the development of valuation practice in squeeze-outs, domination and profit and loss transfer agreements, mergers and changes of legal form in the years 2010 to 2020. With 19 valuation cases in 2020, the number of measures is again approaching the long-term average after a downward trend in previous years. The squeeze-outs also affect very large companies. With a share of 40% of the total number of squeeze-out measures, the merger law squeeze-out reached its peak in 2020. >more

CMS Hasche Sigle
UPDATE ARBEITSRECHT MÄRZ 2021
On May 14, 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that employers are obliged to set up a system for recording daily effective working time. In Germany, employers have so far only been required to record working hours that exceed the standard working time of eight hours per day. There is therefore a need for action on the part of the legislator. A comprehensive new legal regulation is currently not in sight. Find out more about this in the attached update on the German labor law. >more

WHY ARE CORPORATE PAYOUTS SO HIGH IN THE 2000S?
Kathleen M. Kahle, and René M. Stulz
2020
The average annual inflation-adjusted amount paid out through dividends and repurchases by public industrial firms is more than three times larger from 2000 to 2019 than from 1971 to 1999. We find that an increase in aggregate corporate income accounts for 37% of the increase in aggregate annual payouts and an increase in the payout rate accounts for 63%. Firms have higher payout rates in the 2000s not only because they are older, larger, and have more free cash flow, but also because they pay out more of their free cash flow. Though firms spend less on capital expenditures in the 2000s than before, capital expenditures decrease similarly for the firms with payouts and for firms without. >more

HAVE EXCHANGE-LISTED FIRMS BECOME LESS IMPORTANT FOR THE ECONOMY?
Frederik P. Schlingemann, and René M. Stulz
2021
The firms listed on the stock market in aggregate contribute less to total non-farm employment and GDP now than in the 1970s. A major reason for this development is the decline of manufacturing and the growth of the service economy as firms providing services are less likely to be listed on exchanges. A firm’s stock market capitalization is much less instructive about its employment now than in earlier years. Listed stock market superstars account for less employment than they did in the 1970s. Market capitalizations have not become systematically less informative about firms’ contribution to GDP. >more