Deal Drivers EMEA Press Release
11 August 2015
Megadeals lead the way in H1 2015
London: The half-year 2015 edition of Mergermarket’s EMEA Deal Drivers show that while deal volume has slowed across the region – down 15% year-on-year (YoY) with a total of 2,779 announced deals recorded – deal value has seen a significant boost on last year’s figures, up 16% and recording a total of €414.8bn.
“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,” said Paul Francis-Grey, 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 top of the financial advisory league tables in H1 2015, with €253.8bn worth of M&A transactions. Bank of America Merrill Lynch followed with €181.8bn. PwC and Rothschild led the way in terms of volume, completing 110 and 103 deals in H1 2015 respectively.
Some key findings in the report include: • Europe has become a global hotspot for megadeal activity, with deals above the €5bn-mark in H1 2015 making up 46% of total deal value, amounting to €191.7bn – a 46% 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% and 52.8% respectively. Additionally, targets of the half year’s three largest 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% at €64.9bn, while exit volume rose by 21% to 436 transactions • The Industrial & Chemicals sector remains the mainstay of European M&A with 20.3% 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% 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.
To view the full report, please click here.
