Hand-Wringing over Financial Activities in Utah During the First Half of 2023 is Definitely Overblown, BofA Securities Report Says

In total, Utah saw over $43 billion in financial transactions in the first half of 2023 (via 243 deals), over 3.5X greater than the comparable value of ALL the deals done in 2022.

In spite of what some local Henny Penny's might have you believe, the sky is NOT falling in Utah's financial circles.

In fact, given what is published in the just released BofA Securities Utah Newsletter 1H' 2023, Utah's financial markets are doing just fine, thank you very much.

It's just that the type of financial transactions, and their amounts (both by dollar amount and number of deals) has changed versus what occured in 2022, 2021, and 2020.

Specifically, BofA Securities reports that "over $43 billion in transaction volume" occurred in Utah in the first half of 2023 "... and continues to grow at a breakneck pace compared to almost any other state in the country." (emphasis added).

A summary from Slide #3 from the BofA Securities Newsletter (inserted below), shows the following:

1. There was only one public offering by a Utah-HQ'd company in the 1st half of 2023 (the Clene Nanomedicine (NASDAQ:CLNN) secondary, as we reported here on 26 June 2023); additionally,
2. There were 133 Merger & Acquisition (M&A) "majority" transactions in the state in H1 2023, for a total of $34.5 billion, deals where one party acquired majority controlling interest in another; conversely,
3. There were 96 M&A and Private Capital deals conducted in H1 2023 in Utah, for a total of $509 million in total transaction value; and on the debt side of the equation,
4. There were a mere 13 "Debt Capital Market" transactions that occured in Utah in the first half of the year. However, these 13 deals totaled $8.1 billion, led by $2.94 billion across two deals closed by Extra Space Storage (NYSE:EXR).

In total that's 243 Utah deals valued at over $43 billion in total transaction value for the first half of 2023.

By contrast, the MountainWest Capital Network published in its 2022 Deal Flow Report that

• There was a total of 423 financial transactions that occured in all of Utah in 2022, with a
• Combined total valuation of over $12 billion.

In other words, H1 of 2023 has already produced over 3.5X the transaction value in Utah versus ALL deals that closed in all of 2022 (based upon a comparison of the BofA Securities and the MountainWest Capital Network data.  

{NOTE: And yes, I understand that it's probably not an apples-to-apples comparison BofA Securities vs. MWCN.}

Regardless, the reality is "No" - the sky was/is NOT falling in Utah, at least not on a financial transaction basis, and especially not in the first half of 2023.

Other Tidbits Gleaned from the BofA Securities Report

What else did I glean from the BofA Securities Utah Newsletter 1H' 2023?

Well ... a few things, such as

• As of 30 June 2023, there were 16 publicly traded firms HQ'd in Utah that had a market valuation of over $1 billion; in addition,
• There were also six other Utah-HQ'd firms with shares publicly traded via a stock market with valuations of between $501 million to $999 million as of the midyear point.

Additionally, on the Venture Capital / Minority Private Equity front, H1'23 saw a total of 96 such transactions in Utah in the first half of 2023 (as noted above), with

• 56 deals (where transaction totals were disclosed) in a range of $58 million down to $1 million or more, versus
• 40 separate deals where the transaction amount was not disclosed.

Last of all, on the Acquisition / Majority M&A front (and as noted above) H1'23 saw a total of 133 such transactions in Utah in the first half of 2023.

Of these, I've outlined below five of Utah's Acquisition / Majority M&A  transactions in H1'23 valued at $1 billion or higher (with hotlinks shown for the Utah-HQ'd companies), specifically

1. The "Take Private" acquistion of Qualtrics by Silver Lake, et.al. for $13.0 billion;
2. The acquisition of Life Storage by Extra Space Storage for $12.7 billion;
3. The acquistion of Vivint Smart Home by NRG Energy for $2.8 billion;
4. The acquisition of Kum & Go by FJ Management for $2.0 billion; and
5. The acquisition of MountainWest Pipeline by The Williams Companies for $1.5 billion.

Was there more to suss-out from the BofA Securities report? Of course.

But for now, I think this is sufficient for fans, friends, and readers of Utah Money Watch.

Thanks.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  Although I didn't confirm this in advance, if you want to get your own copy of the BofA Securities Utah Newsletter 1H' 2023, drop me an email at David.Politis@UtahMoneyWatch.com, and I'll make sure your request gets into the hands of the right people.  dlp