Around this time of year we like to take a stroll back at Datasite’s recent information, offering observers a view of the state of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) across the U.S. How do things look? Well, here’s a look.
M&A Activity, 2018 – 2021 Q1
The first view is M&A activity from 2018 to the first quarter of 2021. The blue bars represent deal volume, and the red line represents deal value in billions of U.S. dollars.
Notice anything in particular? One striking trend is the rise in deal value. In the first quarter of 2021, deal value reached almost $700 billion, a massive number for an American economy coming out of a deep recession. Also interesting is that the deal volume, although still strong at almost 2,000 deals, is not abnormally high compared to prior quarters. This implies that the value per deal, on average, rose sharply through the first part of 2021.
A Heatmap of Conditions
Perhaps the most interesting chart out of the Datasite report is the heat chart of potential companies for sale. Before looking, which industries and which geographic areas of the U.S. would you guess are “hot”?
Judging by Datasite’s take, the hottest area is the northeastern U.S., with the hottest industries in the northeastern U.S. being financial services, TMT, pharmaceuticals, medical, and biotechnology, industrials and chemicals, business services, and consumer.
Unsurprisingly, these industries are also considered hot in the western U.S., midwestern U.S., and the southern U.S.
On the other end of the spectrum are the cold industries and areas. The geographic areas that are cold include Canada, Brazil, and Latin America & the Caribbean. None of the industries in these areas were considered hot by Datasite.
The Top 10 Deals in the First Quarter of 2021
The third view provided by Datasite, and the last one reviewed here, is the top 10 deals in the Americas announced in the first quarter of 2021. Before looking, can you name any of the top 10 deals? Here’s a look.
On the top of the list is AerCap Holdings N.V.’s target of GE Capital Aviation Services LLC. The financial services deal was worth $31 billion when it was announced on March 10, 2021.
In second place was Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd’s target of Kansas City Southern for $28.643 billion on March 21, 2021.
Rounding out the top five were Rogers Communications Inc.’s acquisition of Shaw Communications Inc. for $20.424 billion (March 15, 2021), OptumInsight, Inc. acquisition of Change Healthcare Inc. for $12.550 billion (January 6, 2021), and Churchill Capital Corp IV acquisition of Atieva, Inc. for $11.750 billion (February 22, 2021).
Summing Up
Overall, according to Datasite’s research, the state of American mergers and acquisitions is incredibly strong. If the remainder of 2021 keeps up the trend, the year may be the strongest ever for real mergers and acquisitions activity across the U.S.
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