The volume of merger-and-acquisition deals fell 47% in the first half of 2009 from a year earlier to 3,800 and the total deal value fell 43.6% to $707.7 billion, according to MergerMarket’s Global M&A round-up released this afternoon. During the first half of 2007 — the most active half-year period for M&A there were 7,880 transactions valued at nearly $2.1 trillion. Still, steady deal flow in the first half of 2009 suggests that M&A volumes have bottomed out. Goldman Sachs (GS) reigns as the top financial advisor to global M&A deals by value whereas UBS Investment Bank (UBS) was the leader by volume. For full results, check out this link.
The greatest slump in activity took place in the mid-market range with individual deals valued at $250-$500 million, and most notablly in Europe. European deal value and volume fell 70.2% and 67.4%, respectively. Meanwhile, large cap deals valued over $500 million fell 52.2% in volume and 38.7% in value. Thanks to forging six of the ten largest deals so far this year, U.S. large-cap deal activity fell only by less than 10%.
Not surprisingly, insolvency transactions involving companies that have filed for bankruptcy and are being bought or reorganized out of insolvency — rose in this economic downturn to 223 transactions transactions globally from 90 a year earlier. These transactiosn peaked in the second quarter at 112 compared to their previous peak of 88 deals in the second quarter of 2004.
Mergermarket says that dealmaking may rebound, citing that tech companies like Microsoft (MSFT) and Dell (DELL) may used the capital they raised through debt for acquisitions. Healthcare could be another areas. But large private-eqiuty deal acitvity remains viritually non-existant in 2009 so far, the reprot said.
–Barrons.com reporter Naureen Malik
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