M&A deals soar - June 2007
M&A deals soar despite credit concerns
By Lina Saigol in London and James Politi in New York
Published: June 28 2007 23:01 | Last updated: June 28 2007 23:01
The volume of merger and acquisition activity worldwide surged 50 per cent to reach $2,780bn (€2,067bn) during the first six months of the year, despite growing concerns among companies about a turn in the credit markets and fears that the cycle has reached its peak.
Since 2003, chief executives and private equity investors have been fuelling the M&A boom by taking advantage of cheap debt and strong cash flows to bid for companies with attractive valuations. However, in recent days, several companies have postponed or withdrawn planned offerings of shares, bonds and loans because of concerns over the US subprime market, raising fears that the cycle has reached its peak and activity will slow.
“There is a real concern today that, liquid markets aside, recent adverse developments may trigger a slowdown in large private equity deals in the second half of the year,” said Kamal Tabet, global head of financial sponsors at Citigroup.
Buy-outs by private equity groups reached a record high of $568.7bn, a rise of 23 per cent on the previous high of $459.2bn in the second half of 2006, boosted by bids for Alltel, First Data, SLM and Altadis. Private equity represented 20 per cent of total announced M&A this year, according to Dealogic data.
Europe, the Middle East and Africa accounted for 44 per cent of global volume during the first six months of the year to reach $1,230bn. In the US, the volume of deals increased by 37 per cent over the same period, while the pace of activity in the Asia- Pacific region reached $353.4bn.
Gavin MacDonald, European head of M&A at Morgan Stanley said the outlook for corporate deals still looked positive. “The ability to lay off risk has become much more sophisticated, which may be why the current M&A cycle has continued for longer than in past cycles.”
In emerging markets, volume rose 17 per cent to $356bn, with Russia the most targeted nation, followed by China and India.
| Global volume ranking announced deals | Global revenue ranking | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Advisor | Value ($bn) | Deals | 1H 2006 rank | Rank | Advisor | Revenue ($m) | Mkt share (%) | |
| 2 | Morgan Stanley | 740.4 | 209 | 4 | 2 | Morgan Stanley | 1,019 | 9.5 | |
| 4 | JP Morgan | 728.7 | 199 | 2 | 4 | JP Morgan | 758 | 7.1 | |
| 6 | Merrill Lynch | 588.9 | 167 | 5 | 6 | Merrill Lynch | 686 | 6.4 | |
| 8 | Credit Suisse | 546.9 | 153 | 9 | 8 | Lehman Brothers | 439 | 4.1 | |
| 10 | Lazard | 383.2 | 107 | 11 | 10 | Rothschild | 357 | 3.3 | |
| 12 | Abn Amro | 215.2 | 84 | 16 | 12 | Abn Amro | 194 | 1.8 | |
| 14 | BNP Paribas | 160.3 | 70 | 10 | 14 | BNP Paribas | 160 | 1.5 | |
| 16 | Mediobanca | 117.3 | 35 | - | 16 | HSBC | 119 | 1.1 | |
| 18 | NIB Capital | 96.7 | 2 | - | 18 | Dresdner Kleinwort | 80 | 0.8 | |
| 20 | Fox-Pitt Kelton Inc | 96.6 | 1 | - | 20 | Wachovia | 76 | 0.7 | |
| Fee ranking | Bank revenue ranking | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Financial sponsor | Revenue ($m) | Mkt share (%) | Rank | Adviser | Revenue ($m) | Mkt share (%) | |
| 2 | Apollo | 69 | 3.9 | 2 | Deutsche | 122 | 7 | |
| 4 | Apax | 55 | 3.2 | 4 | Morgan St. | 116 | 6.6 | |
| 6 | Permira | 43 | 2.4 | 6 | JP Morgan | 107 | 6.1 | |
| 8 | CVC | 40 | 2.3 | 8 | Merrill | 105 | 6 | |
| 10 | 3i | 33 | 1.9 | 10 | Rothschild | 83 | 4.8 | |
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/67e4ddc2-25a6-11dc-b338-000b5df10621,
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