League Tables of Legal Advisers to Global M&A for Q1-Q3 2011
06 October, 2011
Global M&A up 21.8% in Q1-Q3 2011
Global M&A for the first three quarters of 2011 totalled US$ 1,723bn, up 21.8% from the same period in 2010 (US$ 1,414.4bn). US$ 513.9bn-worth of deals were announced globally in the third quarter of 2011, down 9.3% from Q2 2011 (US$ 566.3bn)
Sullivan & Cromwell top the deal value league table
Sullivan & Cromwell have moved up one position from last year’s rankings to top the global M&A legal advisory tables by total deal value for the year to September. The firm has worked on five of the ten largest deals announced so far in 2011
A good year for US M&A, though weakening as the year progresses
US M&A appears to be on its way to having the strongest year in a while, with US$ 680bn-worth of M&A already announced, a 43% increase on the same period last year. The year-to-date total is already 95% of the full-year total for 2010, although, in common with the global trend, momentum has fallen off as the year goes on: following a strong start to 2011 with US$ 293.6bn-worth deals in Q1, activity dropped by over 33% in the following two quarters, with totals of US$ 191.7bn and US$ 194.8bn in Q2 and Q3 respectively
Emerging Market M&A down for three consecutive quarters
the total value of emerging markets deals announced has decreased continually for three quarters in a row since Q4 2010 (US$ 179.3bn): by 23.8% to Q1 2011′s US$ 136.7bn, then by another 19.6% to Q2′s US$ 109.9bn, and in the last quarter it dropped by 3.6% to US$ 105.9bn. This was an overall decrease in M&A activity of 40.9% since Q4 2010.
Private equity buyouts strongest since Q1-Q3 2008
The first nine months of 2011 saw US$ 219.9bn-worth of buyout transactions globally, up 41.5% from the same period last year (US$ 155.5bn), and the strongest Q1-Q3 period since 2008 (US$ 224.7bn). The continuing growth in buyout activity was also reflected in the proportion of global M&A activity accounted for by buyouts: 12.8% in Q1-Q3 2011, up from 11% for the same period last year, and the highest first-nine-month proportion since 2007.
Equity-only M&A deals stagnated, dropping slightly by 1.4%
The total value of equity-only deals in the first three quarters of this year was 1.4% lower than in the same period last year, amounting to US$ 292.7bn by the end of September 2011, compared to US$ 296.8bn in Q1-Q3 2010. Globally, the proportion of transactions paid with only equity decreased, with such deals accounting for 20.6% of total deal value in the first nine months of 2011, compared to 24.9% for the same period last year.
Industrials & Chemicals top sector in Q3
The Industrials & Chemicals sector saw US$ 298.5bn-worth of deals in the first three quarters of 2011, 69.2% up from the total value seen in the same period last year (US$ 176.5bn in Q1-Q3 2010). It is this sector which dominated the third quarter, with US$ 101bn-worth of deals (up by 16% compared to Q2 2011′s US$ 87.1bn). The Energy, Mining & Utilities sector remained top for the first three quarters of the year.
European M&A in Q1-Q3 2011 totalled US$ 540.2bn, an increase of 27.3% compared to Q1-Q3 2010 (US$ 424.2bn). Q3 saw US$ 130.1bn-worth of deals, a 43.4% drop from Q2 2011 (US$ 229.9bn)
Asia-Pacific M&A in Q1-Q3 2011 totalled US$ 257bn, up 5.5% from Q1-Q3 2010 (US$ 243.5bn). Q3 activity was up 18.8%, from US$ 78bn in Q2 2011 to US$ 92.6bn
For the full global press release please click here or on the link below:
www.mergermarket.com/pdf/FINAL_LA_League_Tables_Q1-Q3_2011.pdf
