Just how important is intellectual property (IP) in the mergers and acquisitions process? Both critically and increasingly important, according to results of a survey of 50 corporate executives and private equity practitioners. Indeed, a majority of respondents (52%) to the first M&A Spotlight on Intellectual Property Rights survey report their belief that IP assets will become more important to overall M&A activity in the next five years.
The survey, conducted by mergermarket, also provides the following insights:
A large majority of respondents (85% of corporate and 72% of private equity) identify IP assets as equally or more important than other assets when evaluating a target.
The highest percentage of respondents (33%) identify patents as the most important IP asset in an M&A transaction.
58% of corporate respondents say insufficient time is the biggest challenge they face when conducting due diligence of IP assets, followed by insufficient resources. For private equity investors, 50% say their primary challenge is the failure to link identified legal issues to the valuation models.
The survey, sponsored by CRA International and K&L Gates LLP, was conducted in the third quarter of 2008.
Bio: Jill Jusko is executive editor for IndustryWeek. She has been writing about manufacturing operations leadership for more than 20 years. Her coverage spotlights companies that are in pursuit of world-class results in quality, productivity, cost and other benchmarks by implementing the latest continuous improvement and lean/Six-Sigma strategies. Jill also coordinatesIndustryWeek’s Best Plants Awards Program, which annually salutes the leading manufacturing facilities in North America.
