Automation Vendors Tap Capital

最近自动化公司经历的估值相对升高would be expected to encourage them to take advantage of these favorable conditions to raise additional equity capital. This is precisely what they have done.

In 2006, automation companies accessed the North American public equity markets to raise some $33.2 billion. This represented an increase of 174 percent over the amount of equity raised in 2005. Automation companies also took advantage of the stronger balance sheets afforded them by this additional equity capital to increase their access to leverage, as they tapped the public debt markets for more than $11.8 billion in 2006. This represented an increase of 21 percent compared to 2005. This high ratio of equity-to-debt capital raised in 2006 indicates further that the sector as a whole used its access to public markets to deleverage; the implied market equity to capitalization ratio of 74 percent for capital raised in 2006 lies considerably above the sector’s aggregate capitalization structure of 63 percent at Dec. 31, 2005. Popular fears that low interest rates have encouraged “Corporate 美国 “至少在廉价的债务和轻松的信贷中过度占据了自动化部门的不合适。

上升交易规模

不仅自动化公司采购的公共资本总额于2006年升幅大幅上升，但每次资本筹集的平均规模也增长，2006年平均交易规模上涨了约60％，达到1.65亿美元，相比之下2005年的大约1.04亿美元的平均交易。资本交易的数量，提高的资本总额和每笔交易的平均金额都表现出上升趋势，第四季度（按美元数量为基础）包括值得注意的逆转。它是否仍有待观察到这种下降信号是否发出了世俗的转移，或者仅仅是在活动中看到的典型倾向 North Americaduring the fourth quarter, when the holiday season significantly reduces the number of days that issuers can effectively access the public markets.

Private capital markets have manifested similar trends, with available data indicating that more than $5.3 billion of equity was raised in private markets by automation companies in 2006, a 61 percent increase over 2005. Because they
可以完全出现在公共领域之外，较少的信息有关私人市场交易的信息，而不是公众。
A significant exception is a vehicle called a “PIPE,” or a private investment in public equity. The vast majority of
the sector’s private capital was raised through this vehicle, which allows issuers to raise capital quickly by selling
unregistered securities, typically through an investment bank, and avoiding the lengthy and sometimes difficult registration process. These securities can be structured equities or simple common stock, identical to that already trading; usually the issueras part of the PIPE transaction agrees to begin the registration process for the securities or otherwise to facilitate investor liquidity.

私人市场交易通常小于公共，2006年自动化公司的平均交易约为2100万美元，或者不到公共交易规模的1亿美元。尽管如此，2006年的私人市场看到了增加公共市场表现出的交易规模的趋势，因为这款2100万美元代表2005年的1300万美元的平均规模增加了约62％。

Both economic and management theory dictate that businesses access capital primarily to invest. Recent activity would therefore suggest that automation companies believe robust investment opportunities exist in their businesses. If this belief proves correct, one would expect future growth in the sector, driven by this increased application of capital. Only time will tell, however, whether this capital is wisely invested.

Alan J. Canzano,contactus@cronuspartners.com，is a Principal at Cronus Partners LLC (www.CronusPartners.com), an investment banking firm specializing in automation technology.本文中包含的任何内容都将被视为特定情况的财务，投资或专业建议的渲染。读者负责从专业顾问获得此类建议，并鼓励这样做。