Fewer M&A Deals in UK during H113
The first six months of 2013 saw a total of 484 UK-targeted merger and acquisition (M&A) deals valued at £40.6bn, down 16.5% and 10.9% by volume and value respectively, from H1 2012 when the totals were 581 deals worth £45.6bn, reports Mergermarket.
The specialist intelligence and analysis service reports that in Q213 the UK became more active in the search for companies outside of its borders as it rebounded from a Q1 low of £3.7bn, the lowest quarterly value since Q4 2009 (£3.4bn). Q2’s 106 deals were over five times the Q1 value £23.7bn and also 119.4% above Q212 (£10.8bn), which resulted in the highest quarterly outbound value since Q310 (£41.2bn).
By contrast, inbound M&A experienced a 42.6% decrease in Q213 (£11.9bn) compared to Q113 (£20.7bn) and 42.5% decline from Q212 (£20.7bn). This total comes with just 86 announced deals, the lowest figure since Q409, which saw 81 deals.
Telecommunications was the most active sector by value in H113 following Liberty Global’s £15bn takeover of Virgin Media in February. With £16.3bn worth of deals the sector accounted for 40.1% of total M&A value, replacing the leading sector in H112 which was the energy, mining and utilities sector
Goldman Sachs topped the financial advisor league table by value in H113 with £34.5bn after it advised on the largest deal of Q213, which was the Vodafone Group – Kabel Deutschland Holding transaction valued at £8.9bn. JPMorgan Cazenove was second with £31.4bn-worth of deals, jumping from eighth place in H112.