Global M&A Roundup for Q1-Q4 of 2016
Submitted by Mergermarket, a Partner of M&A Leadership Council
Mergermarket has released its Global M&A roundup for 2016 (Q1-Q4), including its league tables for financial advisors.
A few key findings include:
- Global dealmakers were forced to navigate a sea of change during 2016, as the populist vote swept across the global political stage. Despite a series of political shockwaves, global M&A activity (17,369 deals, US$ 3.2tn) managed to reach its third highest deal value since 2007 (US$ 3.7tn), despite value dropping 18.1% compared to 2015 (18,039 deals, US$ 4.0tn), with 670 fewer deals announced. The outlook for 2017 remains uncertain, with Brexit negotiations, the nature of president-elect Donald Trump’s presidency, as well as the upcoming French and German elections, all under question
- The US continued to be the most sought after location for M&A deals by both deal value and count, with 2016 activity (4,951 deals, US$ 1.5tn) reaching its second highest annual value on Mergermarket record (since 2001). This was despite deal value dropping 22.9% compared to a record 2015 (5,298 deals, US$ 1.9tn), with 347 fewer deals announced. A surge of activity in the Energy, Mining & Utilities sector boosted activity, with US$ 337.4bn deals across 439 transactions representing an all-time high value within the sector
- Donald Trump’s surprise electoral victory in November brings with it an uncertain future for US M&A, with the President-elect pledging to clamp down on high profile acquisitions such as the AT&T/Time Warner deal announced in October. In the face of an uncertain future, M&A activity accelerated in the run up to the election, with mega-deals such as AT&T/Time Warner (US$ 105.1bn), Level 3/CenturyLink (US$ 34.5bn) and General Electric/ Baker Hughes (US$ 31.6bn) all announced in the month prior to the election
FULL REPORT can be downloaded here.
