North American M&A Value Advances Despite Weaker Volume
New York, NY (PRWEB) May 30, 2014 -- The value of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) targeting North American companies rose in May while volume decreased by a fifth month-on-month. Deals worth an aggregate USD 143,987 million were announced during the four weeks under review, the second highest figure of 2014 so far (February 2014: USD 195,573 million). The result represented the second consecutive monthly increase (March 2014: USD 82,060 million; April 2014: USD 110,493 million) and was 40 percent higher than USD 102,509 million a year ago.
While volume was weaker in both the US and Canada there was a divergence in monetary terms, as value in the US rose month-on-month from USD 98,893 million in April to USD 133,038 million, while in Canada the figure declined from USD 11,600 million to USD 11,379 million. Overall value was boosted by a single mega-deal which accounted for almost half of the region’s total for the month. This took the form of Wireless telecoms player AT&T announcing a USD 67,100 million acquisition of digital television firm DIRECTV.
Lisa Wright, Zephyr director, said: “This month’s increase in aggregate deal values continues the series of peaks and troughs we have witnessed in 2014 and compensates for a decline in volume, which reached its lowest level since September 2013 following an improvement in March. This again suggests higher individual considerations, which is borne out by the fact that a single deal accounted for a large portion of total investment in the region.”
PE and VC investment value declined for the second month in a row in May, failing to sustain momentum recorded in the first three months of the year. Transactions worth a collective USD 14,789 million were announced during the four weeks compared to USD 15,910 million last month and USD 25,931 million in February, the year’s high. In a 12-month comparison, value was down by a third on USD 21,952 million in May 2013. Meanwhile, after a brief uptick in April, volume fell back by 29 percent from 446 transactions to 316. Transaction value and volume targeting US companies replicated this trend, slipping 7 percent and 30 percent, respectively, over the four weeks, but in Canada transaction value increased from USD 184 million in April to USD 208 million while volume held steady.
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About Zephyr
Zephyr is an information solution containing M&A, IPO and venture capital deals and rumors with links to detailed financial company information. Zephyr, published by Bureau van Dijk, covers various deal types including M&A activity, IPOs, joint ventures and private equity deals. The deals on Zephyr are linked to the company financials and peer reports on BvD's product range, which includes Orbis, Amadeus and Fame, for company valuation and benchmarking.
Zephyr contains information on over 1 million deals. Approximately 75,000 deals are added each year depending on levels of deal activity. Zephyr has no minimum deal value. All deal information is translated into English. Zephyr's UK-based researchers speak 40 languages and use native language and English sources in their deal enquiries. http://www.zephyrdealdata.com
About M&A Portal
The M&A Portal is a resource for anyone interested in M&A Deals intelligence and information. We host M&A news, deal commentary, features and research papers written by experts across the globe.
About Bureau van Dijk
Bureau van Dijk (BvD) is one of the world’s leading publishers of electronic business and company information. The company has 32 offices worldwide. BvD is best known for its range of international company information products that combines multiple high-quality data sources with flexible software to allow users to manipulate data for research, marketing intelligence and analysis. Products include Orbis, Amadeus, Bankscope, Isis and Osiris. BvD also publishes the global M&A database, Zephyr. http://www.bvdinfo.com
Leela Hauser, Bureau van Dijk, +1 212-797-3551, [email protected]
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