The annual Idaho Deal Flow is out – and shows $5.2 billion in mergers, acquisitions and an IPO involving Idaho companies in 2020.
The annual report is produced by Alturas Capital and the Idaho Technology Council. It details many of the business deals around the state – many of which we’ve profiled here on BoiseDev, including:
- Albertsons Companies’ private placement and initial public offering, valued at $1.7 billion. This is the largest single deal in the state in 2020, according to the report.
- Ericcson’s purchase of Boise-based Cradlepoint for $1.1 billion.
- Vacasa pulling down a $108 million venture capital round. Vacasa is based in Portland but also operates offices in Boise.
- Commercial Tire and Tates Rents shifting to employee stock ownership plans.
- AppDetex landing $12.2 million in funding.
The Deal Flow report found 151 total deals across the state, which dropped slightly from 2018 and 2019 levels – but the total volume of deals grew, fueled by Albertsons and Cradlepoint.
“Albertsons’ reemergence as a public company is clearly the headline deal for 2020,” Alturas’ Blake Hansen said. “However, the acquisition of Cradlepoint by Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications giant Ericsson for $1.1 billion shows one path for local startups to eventually become a beachhead for larger tech companies to grow using Idaho technology and talent.”
[Boise-based VisitPay lands deal for $300-million acquisition: local growth expected]
Buying into Idaho
Hansen noted that a number of recent deals have brought larger companies into the Boise market – where they’ve kept operations intact.
“Historically the narrative has been you grow to a certain size and sell to the larger company, without a long-term commitment to staying in Idaho,” he said. “But the Cradlepoint acquisition is another in a long list of Idaho companies that are being acquired but staying here. We saw the same thing happen with Intuit’s acquisition of TSheets in 2017 and recently Equifax’s purchase of Kount in 2021.”
Though the COVID-19 pandemic impacted businesses in general Alison Johnson with Holland & Hart, who co-chairs the Deal Flow committee, said it showed a general growth pattern for Idaho. Albertsons Companies saw a significant increase in sales ahead of its IPO, for instance.
“It was clear that some industries and markets were negatively impacted by the pandemic while others experienced an unexpected and in some cases a very significant bump in growth,” Johnson said. “Investors and acquirers were quick to capitalize on areas of opportunity. We saw robust financing and mergers and acquisitions activity in Idaho at the end of 2020 and through the first half of 2021.”
