76 Acquisition International - Issue 9 2018 August has been a successful month in terms of the aggregate value of deals targeting the energy, environmental and cleantech sector as 169 deals worth USD 65,819 million have been signed off in the four weeks under review, according to Zephyr, the M&A database published by Bureau van Dijk. hile volume might be down slightly on a month-on-month comparison (July: 299 deals), value increased 10 per cent from USD 59,870 million over the four weeks making August the highest recorded month since April 2018 (USD 83,175 million). Both volume and value declined on a 12-month comparison from 287 deals worth USD 71,744 million in August 2017. However, despite the fall year-on-year, dealmaking in the industry has already exceeded any other previous year in terms of value with Q1, Q2 and Q3 recording values of over USD 100,000 million. There is still one more month until the third quarter comes to an end, although USD 125,689 million has already been injected across 468 deals. This comes on the back of another successful quarter as Q2 2018 recorded 890 deals worth USD 164,107 million, while Q1 2018 notched up 899 deals worth USD 154,263 million. 2018 is set to break records in terms of the value of deals in the energy, environmental and cleantech sector as so far there have been nine deals each worth more than USD 10,000 million signed off, while all of the top 20 deals by value exceed USD 4,000 million. The largest transaction signed off in the year to date involves E ON Verwaltungs agreeing to buy an initial 77 per cent stake in German electricity provider Innogy for USD 46,533 million. The second-highest valued deal was worth USD 35,600 million and took the form of an acquisition of US-based petroleum products refining service provider Andeavor by Mahi. Energy Transfer Equity is buying natural gas pipeline Energy Transfer Partners for USD 27,187 million in the third largest transaction, followed by Dominion Energy picking up Scana, a US energy generation and natural gas electric power generation provider, for USD 14,600 million. Interestingly, the fifth- largest deal involved E ON acquiring the remaining 23 per cent of Innogy for USD 13,823 million. While nine of the top 20 deals by value featured a US-based target, European companies featured in five deals, Australia was targeted in two transactions, alongside Russia (2) and India (1). Despite India being the only Far East and Central Asian country to feature in the top 20, the region is actually top by volume for Q3 2018 to date with 129 deals, followed by Western Europe (126) and North America (106). In terms of value, North America is on track to be the leading region for Q3, having recorded USD 66,165 million-worth of deals in the opening two months of the quarter. Eastern Europe is currently placed second with USD 18,592 million, followed by Western Europe (USD 15,381 million) and Oceania (USD 12,880 million). Companies operating in the utilities segment of energy, environmental and cleantech featured in 1,391 deals worth USD 286,463 million in 2018 to date, thereby representing the largest area for investment since the start of 2006 until the present day (24,926 deals worth USD 3,760,246 million). While the mining and extraction industry is a close second for dealmaking over the last twelve years (19,568 deals worth USD 3,063,786 million), it is some way behind utilities in the year so far as 748 deals worth an aggregate USD 174,840 million have been announced. Targets in chemicals, petroleum, rubber and plastics have received USD 104,329 million across just 147 deals so far this year. 34 per cent of this amount can be attributed to the USD 35,600 million acquisition of Andeavor by Mahi. In conclusion, the energy, environmental and cleantech sector has been a popular industry for mergers and acquisitions in 2018 so far, exceeding previous results for the opening eight months of any given year. If single deals with large values continue to be announced as we move further into the second half of the year, then 2018 would be a record-breaking year for activity in the market. Company: Bureau van Dijk E-Mail:
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