December rounds off steady year of acquisition

Figures show 237 deals across Europe with the emphasis more on big-money buys

Acquisition activity in the European IT sector remained steady throughout 2010, with December rounding off the year with 237 deals in the region.

Figures released by market watcher Regent Associates revealed that the combined total of deals done in Europe for the month was $9.9bn.

The largest deals of December were Atos Origin’s €850m acquisition of Siemens IT Solutions and Services, and Dell’s $960m purchase of Compellent.

Auction site eBay made two acquisitions in December as it looks to take advantage of the mobile shopping trend – snapping up brands4friends for $200m, and application developer Critical Path for an undisclosed sum.

Regent’s data showed that activity peaked in July, with valuations steadily increasing as fewer, but larger value deals were done.

In a statement, Regent said: “2010 ended much as the year began, with a solid flow of transaction activity that was interrupted by a summer of fewer, but very much larger deals.

“Prime valuation ratios have moved up throughout the year with P/E (price to earnings) ratios running at 16 compared with 14.1 at the end of 2009. P/S (price to sales) ratios ended the year on 1.1 – up from 1.0.”