According to the global deal tracking firm Dealogic, global merger and acquisition activity for the first half of this year amounted to $1.71 trillion, registering a decline of 18 per cent over the same period last year.
After three successive quarters with $1 trillion volume in 2015, global M&A fell to $758.5 billion and $951.6 billion in the March and June quarter of 2016, respectively.
For the January-June period, there was merger and acquisition activity worth $1.71 trillion, down 18 per cent on a year-on-year basis. In the first half of 2015, M&A deals worth $2.09 trillion were announced.
There was also a dearth of mega deals during the first six months of this year. Just 16 big ticket deals were announced in the first half of 2016 amounting to $336.9 billion, while in the corresponding period last year the figure stood at 24.
The largest M&A deal announced in the April-June period was a cross-border deal in the agribusiness sector, Bayer’s $62 billion bid for Monsanto.
Sector wise, technology led global M&A in the first half of 2016 for the first time on record with $294.8 billion, up 6 per cent year-on-year.
Microsoft’s proposed $28.1 billion acquisition of LinkedIn, announced on June 13, is the largest ever deal by a software giant, and the fourth largest M&A deal in 2016 to date.
Real Estate ($190.4 billion) and healthcare ($187.9 billion) completed the top three sectors in the January-June period of this year, with volume down 18 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively, year-on-year.
Goldman Sachs was the top advisor for global M&A in the first half of 2016, followed by Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.