April 6, 2018
M&A Activity: 1st Quarter Report
Mergermarket recently issued its Global and Regional M&A Report for the 1st quarter of 2018. Here’s an excerpt with some of the highlights:
– The extraordinary surge in dealmaking seen at the end of 2017 has carried through into 2018 as global M&A hit its highest Q1 value on Mergermarket record (since 2001) as pressure from shareholders and the search for innovation continue to drive corporates towards M&A. In the first quarter, US$ 890.7bn was recorded across 3,774 deals, up 18% on Q1 2017’s value of US$ 754.7bn (4,672 deals).
– The US has seen a sizeable increase in M&A during the first three months of the year with six of the largest ten global deals targeting the country, and accounted for a 44.2% share of global activity by value. So far this year, US$ 393.9bn has been invested in US companies, 26.1% higher than in Q1 2017 (US$ 312.4bn) and the largest quarterly value since Q4 2016 (US$502.3bn).
– Global private equity activity remains remarkably high, with many investors pursuing larger targets as the mid-market becomes saturated. In Q1 there were 699 buyouts worth a total US$ 113.6bn, compared to the US$ 89.5bn (782 deals) in Q1 2017, representing the strongest start to the year since 2007 (US$ 212.7bn). It represents the fourth consecutive quarter in which buyout activity has reached US$ 100bn and only the third time on Mergermarket record in which this figure has been reached at this point in the year.
The report also includes the legal advisor league tables for the 1st quarter.
– John Jenkins