Year-end greetings from The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI). We hope you and yours have a happy and healthy 2009, and we also hope to see some better news from the financial markets come the spring.

The tumultuous upheaval in recent months certainly changed the pace and profile of M&A from the past few years. Remarkably, through the first three quarters, the number of transactions kept pace with 2007 in the media, information, marketing services and technology sectors that JEGI serves, albeit with fewer large deals as credit dried up. But the fourth quarter saw a significant slowdown compared to Q4 2007’s volume, as strategic buyers remained cautiously active, while private equity reached a standstill.

At JEGI, we completed 17 transactions in 2008, nearly all sell-side assignments and many of which found strategic buyers, such as the sale of acerno to Akamai, Money Media to Pearson, M:Metrics to comScore, Staffing Industry Analysts to Crain Communications, Compliance Week to Haymarket, CQ Press to SAGE, Becker Group to Viad, and both Think Service and Gartner’s Vision Events to United Business Media.

Looking ahead, we’re hopeful that M&A activity will begin to pick up toward the end of Q1 2009, as the credit crunch eases and consumer confidence continues to bounce back from October’s all-time low.

Among the sectors JEGI covers, we’re especially bullish on marketing services. We anticipate that an advertising slowdown will dramatically alter marketer spending patterns and surface many viable/compelling M&A opportunities. We expect CMOs to funnel leaner budgets away from “above the line” brand awareness to “below the line” marketing to drive leads, directly impact sales, and quickly shift market share.

Technology (e.g., multi-channel integration and automation for efficiency; analytics and optimization for measurement and targeting; and interactive video for impact) will play a decisive role in this transition. In the current M&A environment, recurring revenue models will prevail, and we expect keen interest and increased M&A activity in such sectors as customer contact, loyalty and CRM, and interactive advertising optimization, as well as marketing research and information solutions.

At the same time, diversified media companies will be challenged to continue growing their offline and online audiences, and media models that generate large audiences at an efficient cost will also be in demand.

Moving into 2009, please feel free to contact me or any of our Managing Directors to discuss the overall market or your M&A and strategic advisory needs. Meanwhile, as has become our custom, we are forgoing Holiday cards to make a donation to the Doe Fund, the extraordinary organization that empowers people to break the cycles of homelessness, welfare dependency and incarceration through paid-work programs, housing, supportive services, and business ventures.

Happy Holidays and Warmest Regards!