Fewer Cross-border Merger and Acquisition Deals

Volumes for cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) deals so far this year are down by almost a third from 2012 levels, making this the slowest year to date for international transactions since 2009, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Despite the period since the start of 2013 including deals such as the US$19.3bn merger of publishers Publicis Groupe and Omnicom Group, which lifted announced cross-border volumes to US$384 billion in 2013, according to the data, the volumes are still 31% lower than at the same period last year.

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs head the advisor league table, with just over US$103bn of cross-border work each, with JP Morgan third at US$65bn.

However after a subdued first half, in which continued fears over the eurozone crisis and the potential effect of spending cuts on the US economy subdued deal making, last month showed a revival. According to Thomson Reuters’ data, global M&A activity in July totalled US$237.3bn, the strongest figure for the month since the $352.7bn recorded in July 2008.

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