US Remains the Main Focus of M&A Activity

Although global M&A value in Q1 was down 10% year-on-year, some mega-deals worth $15 billion or more left their impression on the market. by Terry Stidham

INVESTMENT bank JP Morgan topped the M&A league tables for the first quarter of 2013 after working on deals worth $124.2bn (£82.2bn) during the period, according to figures released yesterday by Mergermarket.

The company leads the league table after working as adviser on the four mega-deals that dominated the market during the first three months of 2013: Berkshire Hathaway’s takeover of food firm Heinz, Liberty Global’s purchase of Virgin Media, Silver Lake’s proposed buyout of computer firm Dell, and Comcast’s purchase of a stake in NBC Universal.

Goldman Sachs took second place, while there was a strong performance from Lazard, which staked a claim to be one of the world’s top five global financial advisers after rising from thirteenth in the same quarter last year.

Centerview Partners was a surprise entrant in the list of top ten advisers, although its position was almost entirely due to its involvement in the Heinz deal.

The figures show that the US remains the main focus of M&A activity, with a total of 703 deals pushing the total sums involved ahead of the first quarter of 2012. By contrast the total value of European deals fell 28 per cent to $116.1bn over the same period.

Africa and the Middle East was the other bright spot, with the region posting a year-on-year improvement in deal value thanks to strong interest in energy, mining and utilities companies.

European M&A value down by almost one-third

European M&A value fell by 28% from $161.7 billion in Q1 2012 to $116.1 billion in Q1 2013.

However, there were 13 M&A deals this quarter worth over $2 billion apiece for a combined value of $57.5 billion. Liberty Global’s takeover of British Virgin Media ($21.9 billion) was by far the biggest, followed by the $4 billion merger of Italian companies Atlantia and Gemina. Europe’s share of global M&A activity amounted to 28.6% for the first quarter.

Terry Stidham is the founder and principal of Target Search Group. He is a B2B Business Development Leader with extensive knowledge of the M&A process, combined with an in-depth understanding of the constantly changing global capital markets environment.  He has served as the head of entrepreneurial organizations as well as Fortune 500 companies.  He specializes with mid-market companies in a diverse array of industry sectors from service and manufacturing to technical and professional firms.

Mr. Stidham speaks the language of both the seller and the buyer having vast experience on both sides of the transaction. He has been directly involved in the execution and successful closing of hundreds of investment banking and corporate finance transactions.  Mr. Stidham has been instrumental in aiding thousands of business owners prepare their businesses for eventual sale by teaching them how to maximize efficiencies in operations leading to significant increased cash flow.