UK Mergers and Acquisitions Volume Plunge By 31% in 2013

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions across the globe declined year-on-year, by almost one-third from 2012 levels, as companies decided to stall their expansion projects due to remaining concerns over global economic recovery.

According to Thomson Reuters data, the volume of cross-border mergers and acquisitions fell by 31% in 2013, so far, to $384bn (£250.9bn, €289bn) from the previous year.

Globally, the US tops the list with 23% of cross-border mergers and acquisitions while the UK is at the bottom with a mere 8%. Germany, the largest economy in Europe, accounted for about 11% of the cross-border activity.

This is also the slowest year for M&A activity since 2009 in terms of both international as well as domestic transactions.

Various Sectors

Among the various deals, those happened in the energy and power, media, and consumer staples sectors have accounted for 38% of all cross-border merger and acquisition activities in 2013. This is in line with similar activities conducted during the same period in 2012.

Meanwhile, telecom and media accounted for a sharp increase in M&A activity, following a variety of large scale transactions.

Recently, France's Schneider Electric snapped up British engineer Invensys for £3.3bn in a bid to boost its industry automation business and gain more energy sector customers.

The merger of advertising giants Paris-based Publicis Groupe and the US's Omnicom Group for $23bn contributed to a significant boost in cross-border volumes.

Another major deal in the pharmaceutical sector, involving US drug maker Perrigo and Irish drug company Elan for $8.6bn, also helped in raising M&A volume.

Meanwhile, two of the largest telecom deals happened this year with Sprint Nextel taking over Japan's Softbank for $21.6bn and Vodafone Group's declaration to buy German's largest cable operator Kabel Deutschland for $10bn.

According to a Mergermarket report, the technology sector has been the most active sector by value in the last five years. This is despite the sector experiencing a 2.4% decline by deal value this year.

Companies like Apple, Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics have made a combined 199 acquisitions for a total of $ 27.8bn since 2008.

This year, the Dell buyout deal was one of the biggest technology deals.

Wall Street investment lenders Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs top the adviser league table, with over $103bn of cross-border association each. JP Morgan comes third with $65bn.