The global merger and acquisition market fell by a third in 2008, after five years of constant growth, in the context of bearish capital markets and credit lockup. Wall Street lists the 10 biggest deals in the global and domestic M&A landscape.
Canceled deals in 2008
Global merger and acquisition volume hit a three-year low, totaling 2.89 trillion dollars, according to preliminary data from Thomson Reuters. The most dramatic sign of M&A market fall was the record number of canceled deals – more than1,100 – versus 870 a year earlier.
M&A volume slid 44% in fourth quarter, making it the weakest quarterly volume in the last four years.
The low number of mergers in 2008 has led to a sharp fall of fees charged by investment banks, down 32% in 2008, against previous year.
M&A market shrunk in most of the regions in 2008, except for China and Brasil who showed 25% and 93% gains in merger and acquisition volume, compared to prior year.
Merger volume dropped 38% in USA in 2008, in Europe by 29% and in Asia-Pacific by 12%.
Contraction of M&A market in Romania
In Romania, the volume of merger and acquisition underwent a contraction in 2008, compared to a year earlier. Experts in investment banking forecast a meltdown in real number of transactions.
Value of mergers and acquisitions completed in Romania in first nine months reached 1.426 billion dollars, after 126 million euros registered in third quarter, weaker than last year’s Q3, according to Wall-Street calculations.
“We expect a sharper contraction of merger volume in 2009, versus 2008, whereas the number of mergers and acquisitions will rise. Reasons are obvious, all being linked to global financial downturn and its negative impact in domestic economy,” Ciprian Paltineanu (photo), head of UniCredit CA IB Romania told Wall-Street.
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