M&A fund is the "high end" of PE. If the growth PE fund is icing on the cake, then the M&A PE fund is the "export management" type.

M&A Fund is a fund that focuses on M&A, the target enterprise. Its investment method is to acquire the control right of the target enterprise by acquiring the equity of the target enterprise, and then carry out certain restructuring and transformation, and then sell it after holding it for a certain period of time. The difference between M&A fund and other types of investment is that crisis investment is urgently invested in entrepreneurial enterprises, and M&A fund chooses mature enterprises; Other private equity investments are not interested in corporate control, while M&A funds want to gain control of the target enterprise. M&A funds often appear in MBO and MBI.

The appearance of M&A funds first disturbed American business circles in 1980s, when KKR won the competition with CEO Ross Jonathan for Beske Holding Company and paid a record $25 billion. However, in the 1990s, leveraged buyouts gradually lost their breath, and crisis capital occupied the center of the stage.

Now, KKR is making a comeback. Although it and its key competitors can't compare with Na Beske Holdings in terms of transaction scale, their new large-scale transactions are considerable. Last year, M&A funds raised 54 billion dollars, twice as much as in 2003. KKR and its partners are buying Toys R Us, and Texas Pacific Enterprises plans to buy Naiman Marcus Enterprises.

Charles Bailey, head of Goldman Sachs' private equity department, said: "10 years ago, a private equity conference was held, and only 50 people attended. There will be 1000 people present now. Historically, this field accounts for 5%-7% of the American M&A market. Now it may reach 12%- 13%. Private equity investment in enterprises has become an excellent source of funds for Wall Street. " The influence of M&A fund can also be measured by another measure: some powerful managers have started their second (or third) careers in this department, such as Jack Welch, O 'Neill and Guo Shina, who all work for M&A fund enterprises.

However, is there too much money chasing too few transactions? Tom lea, a venture capitalist, said: "In the past 20 years, I have raised equity investment funds five times, and every time someone asks me this question. Our market has expanded. Some companies I am concerned about now are impossible for me to see in the past. " Li said that the fund has developed from buying small enterprises to buying medium-sized enterprises, and this kind of business has just begun to touch the surface of large enterprises with a market value of more than 654.38 billion US dollars.

Although there is a constant supply of new funds, the competitiveness of the demand side of this industry has been significantly enhanced, and many of the biggest acquisitions have been completed through auction. The demand for transactions is extremely strong. In fact, some greedy people are also learning to share: so-called club transactions are becoming more and more common. For example, seven funds spent $11400 million on Sungard data system enterprises. However, with the increase of interest rates, market volatility is inevitable.