EMEA deal volume may have slowed down across the region, down 15 per cent year-on-year with a total of 2,779 announced deals recorded, but deal value has seen a significant boost on last year’s figures, up by 16 per cent and recording a total of EUR414.8 billion.
That’s according to the half-year 2015 edition of Mergermarket’s EMEA Deal Drivers.
“Confidence among corporates that have steadily strengthened their balance sheets has risen in the last year. This in turn has leant itself to increased M&A activity among blue chips as they compete for market position,” says Paul Francis-Grey (pictured), Deputy Editor, EMEA at Mergermarket. This greater spending power and competitive environment has been instrumental in driving deal values up across most sectors in EMEA as strategics and financial investors’ appetite for quality assets rises.”
Goldman Sachs remained at the top of the financial advisory league tables in H1 2015, with EUR253.8 billion worth of M&A transactions, followed by Bank of America Merrill Lynch with EUR181.8 billion. In terms of volume, PwC and Rothschild have led the way, completing 110 and 103 deals in H1 2015 respectively.
Europe has become a global hotspot for megadeal activity, with deals above the EUR5 billion-mark in H1 2015 making up 46 per cent of total deal value, amounting to EUR191.7 billion – a 46 per cent YoY increase in deals of this type.
The UK and Ireland were the top destinations for European M&A, leading in terms of both volume and value, with 23.6 per cent and 52.8 per cent respectively. In addition, the target companies of the half year’s three biggest deals were all Ireland or UK-based.
Valuations in Europe are up, creating a strong environment for private equity exits. Exit value in H1 2015 was up 14 per cent at EUR64.9 billion, while exit volume rose by 21 per cent to 436 transactions.
he Industrial & Chemicals sector remains the mainstay of European M&A with 20.3 per cent of total M&A volume. At the same time, Royal Dutch Shell’s acquisition of BG Group boosted energy sector deal value to the top with 23.1 per cent of total M&A value.
Deal Drivers EMEA is published by Mergermarket, an independent M&A intelligence and data service, in association with Merrill DataSite, and provides an extensive analysis of M&A activity in the EMEA region, including in-depth studies of sector-specific activity, complete with league tables. The report identifies the trends that are expected to emerge over the next six months.
