2012 M&A Update

VG_admin March 1, 2012

M&A in 2012 is off to an incredible start. 2,853 transactions have been announced so far this year, compared to just 599 in Q1 of 2011. The total transaction value for all deals announced year-to-date is $333 billion, whereas it only was $95 billion in Q1 of 2011. These statistics show that companies are more confident in the future of the global economy, and are beginning to use cash they accumulated over the past few years to expand through mergers and acquisitions.

Year-over-year, the Financials, Industrials, and Consumer Discretionary industries saw the largest increases in transactions on an absolute basis, whereas the Telecommunication Services, Industrials, and Materials industries saw the biggest gains on a percentage basis. As you can see from the chart below, all industries have experienced tremendous growth in the number of transactions this year versus the first quarter of 2011.

Versailles Group Blog

Looking at the trends from a geographical standpoint, Asia / Pacific saw the largest increases with the United States / Canada and Europe regions not far behind. The Africa / Middle East and Latin American / Caribbean regions saw the biggest gains on a percentage basis. To summarize, the year-over-year changes for all geographies are quite impressive, with each region seeing incredible growth in the number of transactions compared to one year ago.

Versailles Group Blog
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We expect the number of transactions, and associated transaction values, to continue to increase throughout the rest of 2012 as an increasing number of companies look to stay ahead of their competition and industry consolidations continue.