Global M&A volume dips 15% to $1.8 trillion in January-September: Report

NEW DELHI: Global mergers and acquisitions volume dipped by 15 per cent to USD 1.8 trillion in the first nine months of this calendar year, a report says.

According to global deal tracking firm Dealogic, global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) worth USD 2.14 trillion were struck during the same period in 2011.

A downward trend was witnessed in the Asia Pacific region as well, where M&As worth USD 350.1 billion was announced, a decline of 16 per cent from the period under review in 2011.

A region-wise analysis shows that in the first nine months of this year, US targeted M&As totalled USD 617.9 billion while Europe's share stood at USD 504.5 billion and Asia Pacific excluding Japan M&A volume was at USD 350.1 billion.

According to market experts, the overall M&A landscape is witnessing moderation in the deal momentum due to the global economic concerns (mainly around Europe).

Sectorally, oil and gas led the global sector ranking with deals worth USD 222.6 billion, which amounted to a market share of 12 per cent mainly driven by the USD 18.2 billion Nexen acquisition by CNOOC on July 23, Dealogic said.

Moreover, globally, M&As worth USD 555.5 billion was announced in the July-September quarter, which was the lowest quarterly total since the third quarter of 2009.

Meanwhile, among the Asia Pacific excluding Japan region, China continued to lead the country-wise ranking for the fifth consecutive time as it clocked deals worth USD 133 billion.

At a time when most regions in the world witnessed a decline in M&A transactions, Southeast Asia was the only region to record an increase compared to 2011.

The Southeast Asia region attracted USD 65.6 billion worth of deals in the first nine months of 2012, up 26 per cent from the corresponding period last year driven by the rise in volumes in Singapore and Indonesia, the Dealogic report said.

Goldman Sachs led the Global, US and Asia Pacific (ex Japan) volume rankings in the first nine months of 2012, while Deutsche Bank led in Europe.