Brenon Daly oversees the financial analysis of 451 Research's Market Insight and KnowledgeBase products, having covered more than a quarter-trillion dollars' worth of deal flow for both national publications and research firms.
Brenon began his career in 1991 as one of the initial reporters at Prognosis, the first English-language newspaper in the former Eastern Bloc. While there, he covered the Czech Republic's transition to a market economy, as well as larger financial stories across the region. Brenon moved to Vienna in 1995 to run the local bureau for United Press International. In addition to reporting extensively on Austrian politics and economics, he also coordinated and edited EuroBusiness stories from correspondents in Slovakia and Hungary. After UPI, Brenon moved to an analyst position with the Economist Group, where he researched and wrote reports for The Economist Intelligence Unit and the regional publication of The Economist.
Returning to the US in 1997, Brenon helped establish the editorial voice in the early days of financial news site CBS MarketWatch. During his time there, he helped launch OptionsWatch, covering options trading, and MarketPulse, a minute-by-minute report on stock activity licensed primarily to brokerages. Since 2000, Brenon has focused his reporting on M&A as a reporter for The Deal. During that time, he also sharpened his analytical skills, writing reports for TechDealmaker (since acquired by 451 Research) and the boutique research firm Intellectual Capital Associates.
In a highly unusual move, SAP has indicated that it is prepared to at least partially undo the final pricey print by the former architect of virtually all of the company's significant acquisitions. The planned spinoff of a minority stake of Qualtrics International represents an attempt to erase a bit of the 'conglomerate discount' that hangs over SAP.
Reflecting Wall Street's insatiable appetite for tech stocks, JAMF sold more shares at a higher price than expected upon its debut. And then the stock soared from there. It was a stunning bit of value creation for a company that wasn't even a unicorn when it sold to a buyout group less than three years ago.
A bit like the US economy, the market for buyout financing is opening back up after effectively shutting down earlier in the spring. But also like the broader economy in these days of coronavirus, the attempt to get back to business is bringing with it a substantial amount of risk.
Security vendor Forescout will be going ahead with its planned LBO, albeit at a lower price. The discount comes as business had slumped so much that the would-be buyer wanted to walk away from the deal. Before the reconciliation, the lawsuits had been shaping up as a high-profile test case for legal precedent in this unprecedented time.
Wall Street has been betting on a big bounce-back in IT spending as companies catch up on projects that got pushed aside by the pandemic. But that bullish view doesn't square with the outlook from people who actually write the checks. Most IT buyers tell 451 Research they have less money to spend on tech for the rest of the year.
In words and in action, publicly traded tech companies aren't demonstrating a lot of confidence about where they find themselves in this pandemic-scarred year. That's proving to be a huge drag on the overall tech M&A market, where these big-name buyers account for about one of every three prints.
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