LCG Featured in Tampa Bay Business Journal Article about the State of the M&A Market

‘Perfect storm’ of dealmaking activity brewing in Tampa Bay

Premium content from Tampa Bay Business Journal – by Margie Manning, Senior Staff Writer
Date: Friday, May 13, 2011, 6:00am EDT

TAMPA — HSN Inc. is ready to deal.

The St. Petersburg e-commerce retailer, with $344 million in cash on its balance sheet on March 31, is evaluating its options, which could include an acquisition, said Mindy Grossman, chief executive officer.

That puts HSN (Nasdaq: HSNI) among a growing number of firms interested in mergers and acquisitions. M&A activity in the United States totaled $268.4 billion in the first quarter of 2011, which was the busiest quarter for dealmaking since mid-2007, according to mergermarket, an independent intelligence service.

In Florida, M&A activity in the first quarter comprised 36 deals worth $4.8 billion, representing a 336 percent increase in deal value over the first quarter of 2010, mergermarket said. Low interest rates, large cash reserves built up during the credit crunch and business owners who want to sell in 2012 before capital gains rates go up are driving some of the activity. Additionally, private equity funds that raised money in 2006, before the economic downturn, need to deploy that money now, before they go to market to raise new funds, said Brian Smith, managing partner of LCG Capital Advisors LLC in Tampa. It amounts to a “perfect storm of activity,” said Smith. LCG, with a staff of 32 in 10 major cities is among the
advisors at the center of the storm.

To read the full article via the Tampa Bay Business Journal, click here.