Monthly Update on Global M&A

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Monthly Update on Global M&A

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A brief snapshot of Mergermarket and Merrill Lynch's monthly Global M&A report. This month's focus is a retrospective look at 2016 M&A trends and activities. 

Deal activity in 2016 fell short of 2015, both in value and deal count, but several record-breaking deal-values ended up in the CSA, Japan, and MEA regions.  Despite the fact that North America finished with lower value than 2015, 2016 was still the third-highest valued year on Mergermarket record.  Here are some other highlights from 2016:

  • EMU emerged as the top sector for deals in 2016, with 1,453 deals globally, valued at US$608.5bn and taking 18.8% of market share.
  • AT&T Inc’s high-profile acquisition of Time Warner was the largest deal of the year worth US$105.0bn.
  • One of the biggest trends of the year was China’s insatiable appetite for overseas acquisitions. Chinese dealmakers carried out 258 transactions worth US$185.3bn during 2016.

2017 does appear to offer some challenges, regardless of 2015 and 2016’s success.   Most of those challenges are political in nature, with elections in France and Germany looming in addition to the Brexit controversy and the actions of President Donald Trump.

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Macro ViewsResearch & Data Published: 22 February

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