WEBVTT

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Christy, welcome.

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What's transaction activity
looking like in North America

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right now and I suppose through
to the end of the year?

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Well, it is a lot more healthy
than it was this time last year.

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The pipeline is actually really
robust right now, both in terms

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of quality and quantity of
deals.

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Many of our PE clients are
really excited about the deals

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that are coming in the back half
of the year.

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Where are we seeing the most
activity.

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Well, we're seeing a lot of
activity across multiple

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sectors.

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I would highlight consumer,
energy, business services, I

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mean really activity in multiple
places.

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We do have seen, we've seen a
lot of interest in software.

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Again, that was really a sector
that was hit hard at around this

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time last year.

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And now there's been a real
increase in the volume there.

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And I think we're getting to a
point where the mismatch between

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buyer and seller expectations is
starting to close.

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We were still seeing a lot of
choppiness in processes, so a

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lot of delayed starts and sort
of fits and starts.

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But I think the volume and the
activity is really there.

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What should investors be
thinking about?

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What should their focus be right
now?

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Well, we are spending a lot of
time with our clients looking at

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sectors that we perceive to be
more resilient from economic

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downturns.

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They've proven to be more
resilient historically.

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Also in places where our clients
believe there's going to be less

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disruption risk, whether that's
from technology or from some

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sort of new business model.

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We spend a lot of time working
on a strategy related to

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consolidating and
professionalizing a very large

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space, for instance.

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That's something we think about
a lot within business services

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and consumer services, which is
an area where I spend a lot of

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time.

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The 2nd place that I would
highlight, our clients are

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spending a lot of time, effort,
energy with their portfolio

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companies and on accelerating
their operational improvement

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and their performance.

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The work we're doing there is
greater in volume than it's ever

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been before.

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We're spending a lot of time in
particular on commercial topics

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with our clients.

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So Salesforce effectiveness,
digital marketing, E com.

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I'm also seeing our PE investors
wanting to engage and wanting us

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to help them at multiple points
along the deal life cycle versus

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you know some years ago when a
lot of the focus was on the time

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immediately post acquisitions.

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Christy, thanks so much.

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Thank you, Georgie.