Q1 2016 M&A Remains Strong but Sees Lower Volumes and a Significant Drop in Market Performance
Contributed by Willis Towers Watson, a Partner of M&A Leadership Council
LONDON, 22 March 2016 — The number of M&A deals completed* in the first quarter of 2016 was the lowest for two years according to Willis Towers Watson’s Quarterly Deal Performance Monitor (QDPM). The research, run in partnership with Cass Business School, shows that despite the fall in completed deals over $100m this quarter (174) compared to 233 in Q1 2015 (and 307 in Q4 2015), financial outperformance for companies completing M&A deals remains positive at 2.6 percentage points (pp) above the MSCI World Index. However, this is still significantly below the three-year rolling average of 5.8pp, and last year’s Q1 figures of 3.2pp.