Some Interesting M&A Data
Provided by Mergermarket, a Partner of M&A Leadership Council
Mergermarket has released its Global M&A roundup for 2015, including its league tables for legal advisors. Take a look at the report HERE.
A few key findings include:
- Strong economic growth coupled with low interest rates resulted in a perfect storm for acquisition finance, with plenty of cheap debt available to fund deals. During 2015 the value of cash & equity transactions increased to US$ 699.8bn, up 43.5% compared to 2014's annual total (US$ 487.7bn), reflecting a balance between cheap loans and cash piles on balance sheets
- Law firm Skadden Arps Slate Meagher holds on to the number one spot for deal value for another year while Latham & Watkins jumps from fourth to second last year. Cravath, Swaine & Moore make an enormous leap from thirteenth place in 2014 to third in 2015
- Attractive tax laws have resulted in Ireland and the UK becoming the most targeted countries by US companies in 2015. Ireland (36 deals, US$ 190.7bn) received the bulk of investment from the Allergan/Pfizer deal, whilst the UK (244 deals, US$ 61.8bn) benefited from the US$ 18.2bn acquisition of Visa Europe by US-based Visa Inc.