Frank Quattrone on M&A
From Frank Quattrone: Lessons from 650 M&A Deals Worth Over $1TRN & Taking Amazon and Cisco Public| E1121 · · 20VCwithHarryStebbings
“I don't think regulation has killed M&A — it's more of a granular filter. What you need are great companies to come public and you need them to be willing to come public at reasonable prices; as interest rates are stabilizing I think we're going to be on a cusp of M&A activity increasing.”
On , Frank Quattrone, Founder & Executive Chairman at Qatalyst Partners, spoke about M&A during Frank Quattrone: Lessons from 650 M&A Deals Worth Over $1TRN & Taking Amazon and Cisco Public| E1121 on 20VCwithHarryStebbings.
About Frank Quattrone
Frank Quattrone, founder and executive chairman of Qatalyst Partners, said in a March 2024 interview that he believes M&A activity is poised to increase as interest rates stabilize, following two consecutive down years. He described the current regulatory environment as a "granular filter" rather than a killer of deals, noting that transactions that once took six months now often require 12 to 24 months. Quattrone also stated that about 90% of companies now achieve liquidity through M&A rather than IPOs, and he advised private companies to build relationships with potential buyers outside of transaction contexts. He recounted that during the LinkedIn sale process, Microsoft's all-cash offer and greater certainty led the board to choose it over a very close bid from Salesforce. Quattrone has also discussed the impact of generative AI on his work, saying that his first experience with ChatGPT gave him a reaction similar to seeing Google search or the electronic spreadsheet for the first time. He noted that he used the tool to draft a year-in-review letter, which produced a strong first draft but required corrections for outdated data on interest rates and valuations. In earlier remarks from 2010 and 2012, Quattrone described the technology IPO market as having shifted from a predictable resource to one where fewer than 20 venture-backed tech IPOs occur annually, and he called for reinventing the IPO process to concentrate allocations with long-term investors.
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