Arash Massoudi, James Fontanella-Khan and Eric Platt reported late last month at The Financial Times Online that, “Dealmakers outside the US cast an envious eye towards their American counterparts in 2019. As cross-border mergers and acquisitions plummeted to their lowest level since 2013, US companies struck big transactions at home, accounting for 15 out of the year’s biggest 20 deals.
“Nearly half of the $3.9tn in global M&A recorded this year involved US targets — a 6 per cent rise from a year ago, according to data provider Refinitiv. The boom in the US contrasted with lacklustre dealmaking in European and Asian markets, which recorded $742bn and $757bn respectively in total acquisition value, a 25 per cent decline for Europe and a 16 per cent drop for Asia.
“The US activity was enough to power global M&A to its fourth-highest level on record. The deals were broad-based, spanning transformative pharmaceutical acquisitions like Bristol-Myers Squibb’s $93bn purchase of rival drugmaker Celgene and AbbVie’s buyout of Allergan for $84bn, and industrial tie-ups such as United Technologies’ $90bn deal to buy Raytheon.”
The FT writers pointed out that, “Deals greater than $10bn increased 28 per cent in value compared with last year, helping to boost volumes. The spike in so-called megadeals helped make up for a significant drop in the overall number of transactions, which were down 6 per cent. Acquisitions of companies worth between $1bn and $5bn dropped 13 per cent.”
