James Klein, Penningtons Manches corporate partner and head of the firm’s San Francisco office, was once again invited to share his views on the 2015 outlook for M&A in the tech sector in the July issue of Financier Worldwide.

Entitled Tech sector M&A on the rise, the article looks at the key trends in the considerable resurgence of M&A activity which has reached pre-crisis levels over the last 18 months, particularly in the US.

According to James Klein, 2015 is shaping up to be a momentous year for tech M&A. “Continued economic and consumer confidence is feeding into M&A tech deals, with companies keen to put to work large built up cash reserves.”

For 2015, the technology sector will be one of the main drivers of the resurgence in global M&A activity. The increasing importance of mobile technology, the emergence of cloud computing and companies’ ever-increasing reliance on data analytics will motivate confident firms to dip into the deal market. Social media companies have been very active on the acquisitions front and more social media transactions are expected throughout the second half of 2015.

“The US remains a key destination,” suggests Klein. “Dealmaking in the US in 2015 has climbed 48 percent year-on-year to $565.6bn, the highest level since 2007, following a string of multi-billion dollar acquisitions.”

Intellectual property (IP) is also likely to be a key consideration for acquiring companies operating in the tech space. IP is a pivotal feature as firms look to differentiate themselves from the competition and place a greater value on a target company’s IP. According to Klein, “ IP will continue to motivate acquiring companies going forward. From a strategic perspective, the primary motivators for technology deals are access to intellectual property and talent, bolt-on acquisitions to enhance new products, the acquisition of innovative technologies or products, the desire to enter into markets, and the desire to expand existing technology platforms”.

The full Financier Worldwide article can be read here