European manufacturing and distribution is the sector likely to receive the most European private equity investment over the next six months, with Germany home to the best targets, according to the first Association for Corporate Growth/Dow Jones European Dealmakers Survey. The poll of European dealmakers founds that 21% listed European manufacturing/distribution as the hottest sector for p.e. deals, followed by healthcare (19%) and consumer products and services (17%). Germany was the choice destination for 35% of respondents, followed by the U.K. (25%), France and Sweden (10% each). Why Germany? Harald Klien of Vienna-based CD Invest told Dow Jones Newswires that one “can buy companies for quite attractive valuations,” as many of the small and midsized firms – known in German as Mittlestand – are family-owned and operated and in need of successors. Despite the survey, manufacturing is not the top choice in the U.K., where the sector represented about 12% of total buyouts there in 2005, compared with 14.7% the year before.
