UK mergers and acquisitions activity totalled GBP23.5bn with 213 deals in Q1 2013, up 46.9 per cent compared to Q1 2012 (GBP16bn), but down 22.5 per cent in deal count (275 deals), according to MergerMarkets’ UK M&A Round-up for Q1 2013.
The country witnessed a second consecutive quarterly increase, up 27 per cent from Q4 2012 (GBP18.5bn), and accounted for 31.7 per cent of total European M&A (GBP74.1bn) activity, up from 15.6 per cent in the same period last year.
Results are largely down to the country’s top deal where Liberty Global acquired Virgin Media for GBP20bn, contributing 59.2 per cent to total UK M&A.
The Virgin mega-deal influenced the sector breakdown for the country, boosting the media sector deal value up to GBP14.7bn (15 deals) which in turn accounted for a 62.3 per cent in market share.
