The bumper start in January was always going to be a hard act to follow and M&A; activity in February by comparison shows a dramatic decline. We recorded 4 deals in February compared with 5 transactions in the same month of 2009. However in both the metrics of volume and value, acquisition activity is well up on the same two month period of 2009, confirming the continuing trend for growth in the consolidation process during the last 6 months. The acquisition highlights for this month include a bolt on acquisition by the defense company Federal Signal which was obliged to up its offer on two occasions in order to secure Sirit Inc. Too early to say that exit prices are rising but a sure sign that more companies are joining the acquisition trail. We did forecast that the defense contractors would be active in acquiring commercial security companies in 2010 and this is Federal’s second […]