Mergers and acquisitions in Europe have doubled but deals are at their lowest level since 2005



[ad_1]

European mergers and acquisitions have doubled in the first six months of the year, as the value of mergers and acquisitions jumped 96% to $ 767 billion from the same period in 2017, according to reports. Thomson Reuters data. In contrast, the number of transactions fell 18% to 6,201, the lowest level since 2005. This chart shows that companies have made fewer acquisitions, but with a higher counter-value. Only acquisitions in the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, Japan and Italy totaled $ 518.5 billion, up 241% from last year. These include the offer of Japanese Takeda Pharmaceutical for the listed company in the City of London Shire for $ 62 billion and the counter offer of Comcast for $ 28.8 billion to revive the operation of the Twenty-First Century Fox of Sky pay television channel. A start of the year with fanfare, where they dominated the mega deals of more than 10 billion dollars.

To facilitate mergers and acquisitions, it was possible to finance low-cost transactions in the prospect of an increase in the cost of money, so do better business before starting this new scenario. Despite the Brexit, Britain remains the second most popular nation for mergers and acquisitions, behind the United States: the only British companies to have made deals for about 269 billion dollars. Two years after the British vote to leave the European Union, the companies decided that they could not suspend plans for expansion until Britain defined the terms of the divorce.

How the referendum on Brexit did not affect the market for mergers and acquisitions, as well as international tensions, political turmoil in Italy and protectionist trade policy led by US President Donald Trump. have not limited the activity of mergers and acquisitions in Europe. The question of what will happen when the QE ends and there will be the normalization of the cost of money. Nobody knows, for now companies are trying to anticipate projects before they end up with cheap financing.

© All rights reserved

[ad_2]
Source link