Divestments are top of mind in corporates’ capital agenda strategy this year as companies seek to extract maximum value from strategic sales, according to EY’s 2016 Global Corporate Divestment Study, Learning from private equity: experts at extracting hidden value, produced in association with FT Remark (part of the Mergermarket Group).

Mergermarket is pleased to present the fourth edition of Deal Drivers Africa, a comprehensive review of African M&A, published in collaboration with FBNQuest, Merrill Corporation and Control Risks. Based on interviews with 100 M&A practitioners operating in Africa, this report provides invaluable insight into the African M&A market from those who know it best.

 

Highlights of the report include:

 

Australian IPOs: Safe haven in a sea of volatility, and expectations for growth in 2016

 

With $17.6bn in equity listed through 97 initial public offerings (IPOs), 2015 marked another exceptional year for the Australian equity market. While total market capitalisation and capital raised dipped slightly below 2014 totals, performance of market debutantes continues to encourage investors – with 18% weighted average returns for companies listed in 2015, IPOs remain stock market darlings and have continued to outperform the ASX 200 index. IPOs in Australia are also bucking the trend when compared with the US listings market.

 

In an exclusive thought leadership publication ‘Open for growth: Deloitte 2016 IPO report’ Deloitte Australia, in collaboration with M&A intelligence provider Mergermarket, explores IPO activity in recent years to analyse current market opportunities and create an outlook for the Australian IPO market in 2016 and beyond.

 

In this year’s iteration, we speak with Deloitte’s head of Transaction Services, Ian Turner and IPO Transaction Services director, Tapan Verma who contribute to the ongoing private equity debate in the Australian market with a comprehensive analysis on private equity-backed IPOs as well as vendor sell-downs.

 

 

 

The report also includes insights on the market from Chris Hadley, Executive Chairman of the leading Australian PE firm Quadrant Private Equity, and from law firm Herbert Smith Freehills.

The Deloitte 2016 IPO Report web page includes a full interactive data set presented in this publication. Click here to view.

 

China’s economy grew 6.9% in 2015, the slowest in 25 years. M&A activity in Asia has nonetheless continued unabated, posting US$984bn worth of deals in 2015. This was spearheaded by a strong showing from North Asia, which contributed to 80% of Asia-Pacific deals by value and 67% by volume. Deal-making in North Asia has been on an upward trajectory since 2012, with deal value rising 58% year-on-year in 2015 and deal volume increasing by 10%. Inbound activity, however, declined year on year, dropping 31% by volume and 42% by value amidst stock market volatility, speculative anxieties concerning overinflated markets in China, and fears of collateral damage from China’s slowdown on regional markets.

 

Merrill Corporation, a global provider of secure content sharing, regulated communications and disclosure services, has teamed up with Mergermarket in a thought-leadership newsletter entitled ‘North Asia M&A Review: Trends Shaping the Region’ analyzing the shifting trends shaping M&A activity in North Asia. The publication includes an in-depth interview with Michael Buckley, Executive Director and Head of International M&A at CITIC Securities, who presents a market update on investment trends in North Asia, with insights on the rising prominence of China’s outbound acquisition forays.

 

Trends and highlights in the newsletter:

 

Technology M&A has boomed in the last few years particularly in 2015 when the sector recorded over 2,300 deals worth US$416bn. However, economic uncertainty, the opaqueness of valuing unicorn potential and a shift in the financing landscape have turned the pressure up on tech’s most promising startups. According to this month’s Venue® Market Spotlight, 52% of survey respondents expect e-commerce to see the most M&A activity involving unicorns, followed by cloud computing (48%) and big data (40%). Roughly a fifth of respondents predict that Airbnb and Snapchat are most likely to be bought or go public in the next year. RR Donnelley commissioned Mergermarket to interview professionals based in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific to gain insight on their predictions for unicorns and the tech sector for the year ahead.

As oil prices tumbled to record lows, falling almost 60% over 2015, Asia-Pacific remained one of the world’s busiest markets for energy M&A. According to Mergermarket data, M&A among regional and international energy majors reached near-record levels in 2015, with 200 deals completed, marginally short of the 222 in 2014.

 

Eversheds, a leading international law firm, has teamed up with Mergermarket to trace the shifting investment trends in the Asia-Pacific energy sector in “A towering presence: Asia-Pacific energy M&A”, the first issue in a newsletter series. This thought-leadership publication includes an exclusive interview with Eversheds partners Charles Butcher, Corporate, and Jae Lemin, Banking, presenting expert insights on the latest industry trends shaping the regional markets for oil and gas corporations, as well as those in the renewable energy space.

 

 

Inbound mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Vietnam totaled US$3.5bn in 2015, posting an exponential increase of 406% from US$706m the prior year and accounting for 94% of deal activity in the country. Inbound M&A is a component of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam, which totaled US$13bn in 2015, a decline of 13% from 2014, but a significant increase from investment barely reaching the US$2bn mark in the early 2000s. Even as China’s slowdown sends shockwaves across neighboring markets, sentiment remains strong that FDI in Vietnam will continue unabated as investors set their sights on Southeast Asia’s next emerging market.

 

Kroll, the global leader in risk mitigation and response, has once again teamed up with Mergermarket to analyze the challenges and potential of foreign investment in Vietnam in “Investing in Vietnam: Open for business”, the latest edition of their Spotlight Asia series.

 

This issue seeks to trace the contours of Vietnam’s swiftly evolving investment landscape, replete with pressing risks and compelling attractions at every turn. It includes an interview with Richard Dailly, Managing Director at Kroll, presenting insights on mitigating business risks and conducting pre-transactional due diligence on potential investment targets in Vietnam.

 

 

Over the last year, a paradox has persisted in the North American mid-market: buyside interest in deals has been at an all-time high, and yet the number of deals has fallen. With corporate cash holdings and private equity dry powder still at high levels, the appetite for mid-market deals will remain robust. The question is: how can buyers and sellers close the valuation gap?

 

Mergermarket, on behalf of virtual data room provider, Firmex, interviewed six leading experts for insight on how big a part a valuation gap has played on North American mid-market M&A in the newsletter Mid-Market M&A: The Valuation Gap.

 

 

Mergermarket is pleased to present the fifth edition of the William Fry M&A Review. This year’s report reveals a vibrant Irish M&A scene in 2015, with a significant rise in deal value, from €45.3bn in 2014 to €189bn in 2015, although there was a drop in deal volume, from 120 in 2014 to 104 in 2015. These figures include Pfizer’s acquisition of Allergan announced in November 2015, which was worth €172.6bn, and Medtronic’s acquisition of Covidien in 2014, which was worth €33.9bn. Excluding these deals, Ireland’s M&A sector still recorded a significant increase, with value up 41% on 2014, from €11.4bn to €16.1bn.