Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Although total US deal value is down from a year ago, the amount of M&A investment in the first quarter of 2019 jumped 35% from the end of 2018, with more than $509bn in announced transactions, said a report by PWC.
The Deals activity during this period includes more megadeals - transactions of at least $5bn in value - than in each of the last two quarters, led by deals in pharmaceuticals and life sciences, media and telecommunications, and technology.
Amid these moves to boost scale, cross-sector deals are holding their appeal, accounting for almost half of Q1 deal volume. Technology, consumer markets, and media and telecom have been the most active, with companies in those industries both pursuing investments in other sectors and drawing the most interest from other sectors.
But the most significant investment is occurring within industries. The share of Q1 2019 deal value included in transactions by companies in the same sector was up significantly from 2018.
The wave of pharma megadeals meant most of that industry's total deal value was captured in major scale plays. Other industries that posted substantial deal values, such as banking, also saw that investment stay within their sectors. Outliers - where a majority of deal value was in cross-sector deals - included manufacturing and media and telecom.
Nearly one-fourth of Q1 corporate deals involved divestitures, as companies continue to reevaluate how operations and cap...................... To view our full article Click here
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