Global M&A Deals At $701.5 Billion In Q1; Down 25%: Report
New Delhi: Global merger and acquisition deals in the first quarter this year were worth dollar 701.5 billion, down 25 per cent, says a report by Dealogic.
According to the global deal tracking firm, after three successive quarters with more than dollar 1 trillion deal value, the first quarter of this year saw transactions worth dollar 701.5 billion.
In the January-March period of last year, the deal tally stood at dollar 934.5 billion.
The US targeted M&A volume totaled dollar 248.2 billion and accounted for 36 per cent share of global M&A, while Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) targeted M&A stood at dollar 217.9 billion (31 per cent share) and Asia Pacific targeted M&A stood at dollar 195.9 billion (28 per cent).
Sector-wise, technology was the top ranked sector with dollar 100.3 billion, followed by real estate with dollar 69.5 billion, healthcare dollar 58.7 billion and telecom dollar 39.7 billion.
The report further noted that the Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) targeted M&As stood at dollar 161.4 billion, down 34 per cent from the first quarter of 2015, when transactions worth dollar 244.7 billion were announced.
"Aside from the decrease, this is the third highest first quarter volume on record behind 2015 (dollar 244.7 billion) and 2014 (dollar 175.7 billion)," the report added.
Meanwhile, the global cross-border M&A volume of dollar 302.6 billion is just behind the first quarter record high of dollar 314.6 billion in 2015.
ChemChina's proposed dollar 48 billion cash offer for Syngenta, announced on February 3, 2016, is one of the largest cross-border deals on record and is the largest Agribusiness targeted M&A transaction on record.
"Chinese companies were behind five of the top 15 cross-border deals announced in 2016, four of them with US targets, led by the dollar 14.7 billion bid for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide by AnBang Insurance," the report said.
In terms of M&A advisory ranking Goldman Sachs topped the chart with dollar 214.2 billion in January-March period, followed by JPMorgan (dollar 153.1 billion) and UBS (dollar 98.7 billion).
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
