Morgan Joseph

“Open Exchange –w/Guest Co-host Fred Joseph” (Bloomberg-TV)
2/27/07

Appearing as a guest co-host of the program, Managing Director Fred Joseph comments that strong M&A activity in the U.S., driven by large amounts of private equity capital and the strong liquidity of strategic buyers in the market, is likely to continue — at least for the present. Deal prices are increasing, as are the amounts of leverage on corporate balance sheets, creating the best seller’s market Mr. Joseph has seen in the more than 40 years. Asked about Morgan Joseph’s current activities and the state of the middle market, Mr. Joseph noted a significant trend in the growth of specified purpose acquisition company IPOs, for which the firm is a leading underwriter, as well as increased activity and impact of shareholder activists. To address this latter development, Morgan Joseph’s corporate finance department last year formed a Shareholder Activist Group, and completed a comprehensive study of 94 campaigns waged by activist hedge funds.