Global mergers & acquisitions (M&A) deal value surged 11.7 per cent in January-June 2024 to $1.22 trillion ($1.09 trillion) on a year-on-year basis, a new report released by S&P Global Market Intelligence, showed.
However, the number of deals in the first half this calendar year was down 12.9 per cent to 19,415 (22,285 in January-June 2023), the Q2 2024 Global M&A and Equity Offerings Report revealed.
The latest activity shows that M&A has yet to fully recover from the slowdown that started in 2022 with the rate-hiking cycle, but deal makers are willing to pursue large transactions, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, a division of NYSE-listed S&P Global.
Growth drivers
In the second quarter (April-June2024) of this year, a pickup in $10 billion-plus M&A announcements outside the US helped ensure that the total value of global deals recorded its third straight quarter of year-over-year growth.
The total M&A deal value in April-June 2024 is estimated at $600 billion against $593 billion in same quarter last fiscal. The number of transactions for the quarter under review was 9,719, substantially lower than the deal number of 10,784 in April-June 2023. The total global M&A deal value in June 2024 stood at $182.48 billion, lower than $208.17 billion in May.
“A handful of large transactions served as a bright spot for M&A and IPO activity in the second quarter (April-June), while the overall number of transactions remains lacklustre, the bigger deals are helping bring some growth to the overall value of transactions,” said Joe Mantone, lead author of the report at S&P Global Market Intelligence. “Clarity around the political landscape and sustained rate-cutting cycle would certainly create optimism for M&A and IPOs heading into 2025.”
Transactions down
The number of global M&A transactions has fallen below 10,000 three times in the last four quarters after having done only once since 2020, the report noted.
Also, the 616 global IPOs in the first half of this year were lower than the 674 transactions in the first half of 2023 and the 819 transactions in the first half of 2022.
The S&P Global Market Intelligence quarterly report provides an overview of global M&A and equity issuance trends, offering insights into the sectors and geographies that are seeing the most activity.
It also focuses on deals with the highest valuations and strategies larger players pursue that underscore trends occurring throughout an industry.
S&P Global Market Intelligence has produced the quarterly, global M&A and equity offering report since the first quarter of 2018.