March 4, 2025
M&A Process: Pre-Announcement Leaks in Two-Thirds of the Largest Deals
H/Advisors Abernathy recently released its 5th annual report of pre-announcement leaks in M&A transactions. The report reviewed 509 transactions announced from January 2024 through December 2024 with $1 billion or larger in enterprise value. Here are some key findings from this summary:
– 31% of announced transactions valued at $1 billion and greater in 2024 leaked prior to the official announcement.
– Deals valued at $10 billion or greater continued to leak at a significantly higher rate, at 64% in 2024, a substantial increase from 43% in 2023.
– Transaction leaks are occurring earlier in the deal process, on average, 52 days in advance of an announcement, with 19% of leaks occurring within two days of the deal’s official announcement.
– Entertainment, Leisure and Media remained the “leakiest sector”, increasing to 62% of deals leaking to media before the official announcement, up from 45% in 2023. Deals in the Tech sector also leaked at a substantially higher rate, up to 46% leaking from 26% in 2023.
– On average, leaks rank among the top five most visible news moments of the year for both buyer and target companies.
– Nearly three in four mentions of a leak start with an online news story and then travel to social media, led by X (16% of leak mentions) and LinkedIn (10% of leak mentions) where attention spreads rapidly.
– Meredith Ervine