Mergers and Acquisitions: M&A’s Class Struggle

Citing NAPL research, Hyde notes that 90 percent of the industry's members are "treading water or worse." While the top 10 percent are traded as going entities based upon EBITDA, the balance are primarily sold based on their underlying assets.

"For most companies, the asset that has the greatest value is the general intangibles—the customer relationships," Hyde adds. "Historically, it would have been the equipment, but that hasn't been true for quite some time. The customer relationships are extremely valuable, simply because companies need sales. There's an imbalance between those who need sales and those who have sales."