North American dealmaking has failed to reach the heights of the past two record-breaking years. This is particularly true for mega-deals. However, mid-market M&A has seen less of a drop-off. Strong deal flows can be seen in the energy, mining & utilities, financial services, healthcare and consumer sectors. The energy sector in particular leads the group with 202 deals made so far, valued at US$18.2bn. This brings about the question, why are middle market deals holding firm while bigger deals tumble?

 

Mergermarket, on behalf of Firmex, a virtual data room provider, interviewed five top dealmakers to discuss why mid-market conditions have been immune to the overall M&A slowdown.

 

 

The Brexit referendum on June 23 kicked off a season of significant political events across the globe, including the unpredictable US election. As dealmakers gear up for the busy year-end period, how are these events affecting the M&A environment?

 

Toppan Vite, a trusted financial printing and communications company, in partnership with Mergermarket, asked five M&A experts to find out.

 

 

 

See more and subscribe to Toppan Vite’s blog here.

 

Toppan Vite, a leader in financial printing, delivers a hassle-free experience for mission-critical content for capital markets transactions, financial reporting and regulatory compliance filings, investment companies and insurance providers. Part of the world’s largest printing company with over $13 billion in annual sales, we have the scale, financial strength and commitment to be the partner of choice for mission-critical transactions, any size, across the globe. Learn more at us.toppanvite.com

 

Baker & McKenzie and Mergermarket are proud to present a new report on the evolving and increasingly competitive business landscape for Japanese corporations and how these corporations can revisit their current cross-border M&A doctrines and make the necessary changes to engender change on a transformational and international scale. Faced with growing challenges in their domestic market, not least an aging and shrinking population amid global economic uncertainty and turbulence, Japanese companies are shifting towards a search abroad for growth. As a catalyst for this shift, Japanese corporations are using cross-border M&A to engender the kind of transformational change in operations and organizational structures needed not just to survive but thrive in today’s competitive corporate landscape.

 

Research commissioned by Baker & McKenzie, in collaboration with Mergermarket, has culminated in the report ‘The Global Challenge Part 2: Practical considerations of Japanese business transformations and the impact on target companies’. The second issue in a flagship thought-leadership series, the report trains its focus on post-merger integration, assessing the tactics used by Japanese businesses and their competitors in the United States and Europe in their pursuit of transformational change via cross-border M&A. Examining perspectives from the sell-side, the report identifies the most pressing issues when engaging in cross-border M&A and analyzes how Japanese corporations can turn these challenges into value opportunities that pave the way to more promising growth as global corporations.

 

 

There is a new shift in reporting formats that could bring about greater transparency, lower costs, reduced risks, and higher quality data. The SEC recently announced it would allow US listed companies to use Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language (or XBRL), a computer readable format, to file their quarterly and annual financial statements. This translates to companies no longer needing to file for the same information in two different formats, reducing complexity and the chances of errors.

 

In order to find out how XBRL format in financial reporting will affect US listed companies, Vintage commissioned Mergermarket to interview five industry experts and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

 

Banks are increasingly turning to fintech to satisfy customer expectations that banking services will be delivered on technology platforms such as phones and tablets. In order to better understand the dynamics between fintech providers and regional and community banks, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP (in partnership with financial intelligence firm Mergermarket) conducted a survey of C-level executives from the two groups. The results reveal high hopes for the future of collaboration between the two.

 

Banks see fintech as a way to enhance mobile capabilities, lower capital and operating costs and decrease technology expenditures. Fintech firms see working with banks as an opportunity to gain market credibility and access to the clients of midsized and smaller banks. Senior executives from private equity firms, venture capital funds and investment banks were also surveyed, and they expressed optimism about the potential for bank-fintech partnerships and acquisitions.

 

The survey findings are highlighted in the report “Growing Together: Collaboration Between Regional and Community Banks and Fintech.”

 

Four key takeaways that are useful to everyone in the banking and fintech sectors when approaching the challenges that come with collaboration include:

 

In the midst of economic uncertainty and volatility, dealmakers are taking a more cautious stance in valuations and dealmaking.

 

As a result of this, the Asia-Pacific deal market has seen fewer headline-grabbing megadeals and more deals in the mid-market (deals valued between US$10m and US$250m).

 

YTD 2016, mid-market deals make up 58% of Asia-Pacific deal volume and 22% of value, and have consistently contributed to more than half the deal count since 2011. This compares to global totals of 32% by volume and 13% by value.

 

Baker Tilly International’s exclusive thought leadership publication Dealmakers: Mid-market M&A in Asia-Pacific 2016, produced in collaboration with M&A intelligence provider Mergermarket, analyses the trends and opportunities shaping the mid-market space in Asia-Pacific. The report examines individual markets and the drivers of deal activity, looking ahead to what the rest of 2016 and early 2017 will hold.

 

 

 

Despite a slowdown in global M&A, deal pipelines for the EMEA region have remained active in 2016. Activity in Europe has decelerated in both value and volume following the UK’s Brexit referendum, leading to more cautious dealmakers. However, deals like SoftBank Group’s US$30.2bn acquisition of the UK’s ARM Holdings show signs of renewed confidence in the region. Also, the mid-market space, particularly within the industrial & chemicals and consumer sectors, is becoming dominant across regions such as Benelux, Italy, and France. In contrast to Europe, deal values in the Middle East and Africa rose, although overall volume decreased. This was due to big-ticket deals worth over US$1bn, coming mostly from Israel, South Africa and UAE.

 

In order to further explore in-depth M&A trends within Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Donnelley Financial Solutions in collaboration with Mergermarket is pleased to present the first edition of The Growth Agenda: M&A in Europe, the Middle East and Africa 2016.

 

 

 

ICF (formerly ICF SH&E) is pleased to present the 13th edition of Aviation and Aerospace M&A Quarterly, published in association with Mergermarket. This publication highlights activity and trends in aircraft, airlines, aerospace, airport and tourism M&A in Q3 2016.