"Vigorous Private Equity Activity and a Healthy Domestic Deal Flow "
Submitted by Acuris, a partner of the M&A Leadership Council
Mergermarket, an Acuris company, has released its Global M&A roundup for the first quarter (Q1) of 2019, including its financial advisors league tables. Take a look at the report HERE and don’t forget to review the charts breaking down the activity by sector, value, year-to-year analysis, etc.
A couple key findings include:
- After a peak in the M&A cycle during the first half of 2018, greater market volatility, geopolitical tensions between the US and China, Brexit anxiety in Europe, and strengthening economic headwinds continued to weigh down deal activity in the beginning of the year. Only 3,558 transactions worth a total USD 801.5bn were registered in 1Q19, a 15% decrease in value compared to 1Q18 (5,085 deals worth USD 943.5bn). But pockets of consolidation in some particularly hot sectors, vigorous private equity activity and a healthy domestic deal flow in the US should give hope to dealmakers for the rest of 2019
- Large cross-border deals, which propelled M&A activity in the past five years, have almost disappeared. Only nine mega deals (above USD 10bn) have been struck so far this year, down from 14 in 1Q18. All but two, Newmont’s acquisition of Canada-based Goldcorp for USD 12.8bn and Saudi Aramco’s acquisition of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) for USD 70.4bn were the result of US-based corporates taking out competitors in their home market
- In the US, despite the hefty sums paid for US firms, deal count saw a decrease in 1Q19, posting 1,081 transactions – the fewest for a first quarter in half a decade. Meanwhile, overall US deal value reached USD 414.2bn in 1Q19 – just shy of 1Q18’s first quarter record high of USD 415.6bn. Further, this year has also seen the largest biopharmaceutical transaction recorded in the US, and one of the largest transactions ever across all sectors: Bristol-Myers Squibb’s USD 89.5bn bid for Celgene
Again, you can download the report HERE.
