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Mergermarket released its Global M&A Trend report with Financial Advisors League Tables for H1 2015.
Highlights for Europe include:
- Europe’s rebound in 2014 has slowed in H1 2015 with ongoing discussions for a potential Grexit, UK euro scepticism and a slide in the Euro value affecting outbound M&A. Announcements valued at US$ 449.8bn during H1 2015 were 8.1% below H1 2014.
- Inversion deals were a theme in 2014, but US regulations have visibly hindered deal making between US and European firms. Inbound M&A worth US$ 160.7bn has seen 40.0% of this come from the US (US$ 64.3bn), down from 67.1% in H1 2014. The expected Monsanto/Syngenta deal could be an indication of how future inversion deals are likely to turn out, pending approvals.
- European firms have withdrawn from being active foreign acquirers with the continued weak Euro rate likely to be a deterrent. Outbound M&A in Q1 and Q2 2015 were the lowest quarterly values in eighteen months, resulting in H1 2015’s US$ 73.2bn-worth of deals dropping 42.7% compared to H1 2014 and with 133 fewer deals.
- Attraction to Europe’s technological edge by Chinese and Japanese investors has intensified to a point that the region’s growth rate in Technology M&A has overtaken the US during H1 2015. European Technology M&A value reached US$ 41.7bn in H1 2015, up 20.9% from the whole of 2014, meanwhile in the US, values are consistently strong but are still down 12.0% on the whole of last year.
- Chinese and Japanese companies have taken their highest share on record at 15.8% with US$ 6.6bn-worth of deals.
- The UK has sprung back to life in 2015 and shareholders are confident, supportive and positive, with the Brexit debate not likely to cause an issue in the near future. The UK has already reached its highest annual total M&A value since 2008 and contributes 44.8% towards total European M&A, with deals valued at US$ 201.5bn.
