Pandemic or not, business as usual for deal street as M&As soar 44% in H1

Despite the second wave of Covid-19 scuppering normal life, the deal street was busy in the first half of 2021, closing 44 per cent more deals worth $49.34 billion than in the same period in 2020 that was also ravaged by the first wave of the killer viral infections, shows an industry report.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) were worth $34.3 billion in the same period in 2020.

Deal volume grew 5 per cent to 730 from 693 a year ago, according to the latest data from Refinitiv, the LSE Group arm that is into financial markets data.

Of the total, cross-border M&As amounted to $21.73 billion across 210 deals, up from $16.02 billion across 195 deals in the same period in 2020.

Globally, quarterly M&As surpassed $1 trillion for fourth consecutive quarter, making it the strongest year-on-year percentage growth on record.

Worldwide M&As totalled $2.8 trillion during the first half, up a record 132 per cent compared to the same period last year. This is the strongest opening for deal making since records began in 1980. Of this deals bigger than $10 billion have increased 94 per cent, while deals of $1-5 billion have registered triple-digit percentage gains.

US deals jumped to an all-time high of $1.4 trillion, up 264 per cent compared to last year, European deals rose 33 per cent to $556 billion and deals across Asia-Pacific rose 83 per cent to $551.6 billion to an all-time high.

Technology, industrials, financials, energy & power led the deal street so far this year.

While technology sector deals accounted for a record 24 per cent of the total at $664.2 billion, up 363 per cent over last year, the industrials sector accounted for 11 per cent at $306 billion, up 60 per cent. Financials accounted for 11 per cent at USD295 billion, more than double of the last year.

PEs-backed buyouts double to highest on record at $512.7 billion, a 152% increase over last year. Private equity backed buyouts account for 18 per cent. By the number of deals, global PE-backed M&As rose 74 per cent, the highest since 1980.

From a dealmakers angel, Goldman Sachs maintained the top position for worldwide M&As boosted by the top ranking in the US, Europe and Japan, while Morgan Stanley took the top spot in Asia-Pacific.

Led by Evercore Partners and Lazard, 10 independent advisory firms were placed among the top 25 global financial advisors during the year.