Fri, Nov 6, 2026
A A A
Welcome Guest
Free Trial RSS pod
Get FREE trial access to our award winning publications
Alternative Market Briefing

The number of mega M&As almost doubled in 2021

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

2021 saw 99 deals above $5 billion - a steep increase compared to 54 in 2020, 59 in 2019, and 70 in 2018, said a study.

The 2022 M&A outlook report by PwC revealed that plentiful funding for deals and the lure of profits in alternative investments drove the busiest asset management mergers & acquisitions environment since 2000.

Megadeals - transactions of at least $5 billion - understandably generate headlines, and 2021 saw the most US megadeal announcements ever, including large private equity (PE) buyouts, the report said. But just as notable is the significant increase in volume among "not-quite-mega" deals.

Compared with a typical year of about 400 to 500 deals of $500 million to $5 billion in value, more than 900 such transactions were announced in 2021. Those numbers suggest that many companies are navigating the competition for assets in different ways, including through smaller and midsized transactions that could still deliver solid proceeds and ultimately be scaled for larger deals.

"While consolidation and growing scale remain motivations behind many deals, we're also seeing companies in virtually every industry aggressively pursue transformation through deals. Some reevaluations of business models and deal strategies are being driven by shifting customer demands as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, while other companies aim to improve resilience amid such threats as cyber-attacks and supply chain disruption,&qu......................

To view our full article Click here

Previous Opalesque Exclusives                                  
Previous Other Voices                                               
Access Alternative Market Briefing

 



  • Top Forwarded
  • Top Tracked
  • Top Searched
  1. Opalesque Exclusive: DACH institutions push alternatives to 32.3% of portfolios as hedge funds make a comeback[more]

    Matthias Knab, Opalesque for New Managers: Institutional investors in Germany, Austria and Switzerland now hold almost a third of their portfolios in alternative investments, and they are more confident than ever in

  2. KRX chief courts CalPERS for bigger bet on Korea[more]

    Korea Exchange Chairman and CEO Jeong Eun-bo held talks with California Public Employees' Retirement System, or CalPERS, to promote greater investment in South Korea's capital markets, the bourse operator announced Wednesday. Jeong met with CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Stephen Gilmore.

  3. 755 Unicorns, $8 Trillion: Fifth Era maps the autonomous digital economy[more]

    Matthias Knab, Opalesque for New Managers: Fifth Era Partners, a specialized asset manager focused on the convergence of Internet, AI/Agentic and Blockchain technologies, has released the findings of its 13th Bia

  4. Opalesque Exclusive: "Enough beta plays" - how Fasanara builds an alpha-only multi-strategy platform[more]

    Matthias Knab, Opalesque for New Managers: Most multi-strategy funds promise diversification. Fewer can explain why their return streams should stay independent when markets turn. In an Opalesque SkillsLab investor

  5. Opalesque Exclusive: Governance, Scale, and Boutique Resilience in a Consolidating Hedge Fund Industry[more]

    Matthias Knab, Opalesque for New Managers: The hedge fund industry has undergone significant consolidation in recent years, with capital increasingly concentrated among large multi-strategy platforms. Yet boutique m