HIGHLIGHTS
Global M&A up in Q3 2010
Global M&A totalled US$ 1,422.9bn for the first three quarters of 2010, up 25% from the same period in 2009. Deal count was also up by 18% at 8,102 announced deals.
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom leads the global rankings
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom are the leading legal advisers, having advised on 139 deals worth a total of US$ 245.1bn in the first three quarters of 2010. They also lead the tables in the Americas with 119 deals worth US$ 198.7bn, though in Europe they come just behind first-placed Slaughter & May. In Asia-Pacific, Herbert Smith/Gleiss Lutz/Stibbe top the tables.
Private equity hits highest quarter since Q2 2008
Private equity-backed buyouts reached US$ 69.8bn in Q3 2010, the highest quarter since Q2 2008. Activity for the first nine months of the year had a total value of US$ 151.3bn, 94.2% more than the same time period in 2009.
Cross-border deal flow up 109% from the same period last year
Cross-border activity between regions has reached US$ 390.7bn so far this year, up 109% compared to the first three quarters of 2009. The largest cross-border deal so far this year is also the largest overall deal of the year – BHP Billiton’s hostile US$ 41.9bn bid for Potash. Cross-border deal flow makes up 27.5% of all global activity so far this year, the second highest percentage on mergermarket record.
Lowest quarter for emerging markets since Q3 2009
The emerging markets saw US$ 357.8bn worth of deals announced in Q1-Q3 2010, up 52.1% from the same period in 2009. However activity dipped in Q3 2010, with only US$ 98.6bn worth of deals announced, the lowest since Q3 2009. European inbound and outbound M&A dominated the majority of activity in the emerging markets in Q1-Q3 2010.
Average EBITDA multiples highest since 2008
The average EBITDA multiple across global M&A for 2010 to date is 14.4x, the highest since 2008. The highest valuations have been seen in the Asia-Pacific region, where the average EBITDA multiple is 18.5x.
Highest number of deals over US$ 500m since 2007
6.4% of announced deals in Q1-Q3 2010 were valued over US$ 500m, the highest proportion since 2007. 515 deals with a deal value exceeding US$ 500m have been announced so far this year, compared to 323 for the same period in 2009, a 59.4% increase.
European M&A up 51.3% by value and 19.2% by deal count from the same period last year
US M&A down 1.6% by value and up 25.4% by deal count from Q1-Q3 2009
Asia-Pacific M&A up 23.7% by deal value from the same period last year
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