26 Acquisition International - Issue 4 2020 There have been 19,552 global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) worth an aggregate USD 820,410 million announced in Q1 2020 to date, as of 26th March 2020, according to Zephyr, the M&A database published by Bureau van Dijk, representing the lowest-recorded quarterly value since Q1 2013 (USD 741,342 million), while volume slumped to lows not seen since Q3 2010 (19,046 deals). n terms of value, Q1 2020 represents a decline of 34 per cent from USD 1,246,462 million in Q4 2019 and 39 per cent from USD 1,341,084 million in Q1 2019. By volume, the three months under review fell 36 per cent from 30,435 deals quarter-on-quarter and 39 per cent from 32,097 deals year-on-year. While Q1 is usually a slower month in terms of global dealmaking, the overall decline is even more significant due to the global outbreak of the coronavirus, which has had a considerable impact on the markets. The largest deal by value announced globally in Q1 2020 involved Aon buying Irish insurance group Willis Towers Watson for USD 30,028 million. This deal represents the fourth-largest targeting an insurance carrier or related service provider to have been announced worldwide on record. In the second-biggest deal, Advent International, Cinven and RAG-Stiftung agreed to acquire German lift manufacturer thyssenkrupp Elevator for USD 18,719 million. In total, nine of the top 20 deals by value in Q1 targeted companies based in Western Europe, seven featured businesses based in the US, two targets were from the Middle East and two were from the Asia Pacific region. Unsurprisingly, given its dominance in the top 20 deals in Q1 2020, Western Europe led the way by value with USD 287,254 million, representing an improvement from USD 249,196 million in Q4 2019. North America placed second by value with USD 227,985 million, a significant decrease from USD 424,125 million in Q4 2019. The Far East and Central Asia was a close third with USD 217,476 million and placed first by volume, having featured in 6,015 deals in Q1. North America was the second most prolific target with 5,665 deals, followed by Western Europe’s 5,023 deals. Banking, insurance and financial services was the leading sector by value in Q1 with USD 145,275 million, closely followed by computer software companies with USD 134,894 million, which was the only other sector to attract value of more than USD 100,000 million in the three months under review. As COVID-19 continues to spread, it is unclear at this time how dealmaking is likely to be affected through the remainder of 2020. Q1 has already represented a slow start for global M&A due to the outbreak. However, there has been a number of sizeable deals announced in the three months so far, which has resulted in an increase by value for companies based in Western Europe. © Zephyr Company: Bureau van Dijk E-Mail:
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