1. In Europe, losses resulting from M&A operations were significant, returning to levels last seen in 1995.
2. Meanwhile, a decline in IPOs was seen in the US markets. In the EMEA region, for its part, subsequent share offerings have improved.
3. And the recent rally in debt markets has been mainly driven by strong US yields.
To get more data-driven insights delivered straight to your email, sign up for the weekly Refinitiv Perspectives newsletter.
In a time of widespread uncertainty, the market most strongly tied to CEOs’ personal reputation and career risks—namely, M&A—turned out to be the most telling. And in the first quarter of 2023, fear certainly outweighs hope in the global corporate acquisition industry.
By the end of 2021, the global M&A market is believed to have reached the lowest possible threshold of $1 trillion per quarter. But no. Only $580,000 million was recorded in the first three months of 2023, a 44% decrease from the same period last year, making it the slowest opening quarter since 2013 and the lowest year-to-date since 2001. Year is the biggest shortcoming.
Transactions over $10 billion recorded the biggest declines, down 50%, as opportunistic buyers also avoided market volatility.
In the United States, mergers and acquisitions have not stopped falling over the past twelve months: 47% year-on-year and 13% only in the fourth quarter, to $273,000 million.
Even more worrying is the 60% drop in European M&A, reaching just $90 billion, a level not seen since 1995, before the introduction of the euro.
Deals Intelligence – Analyze market trends and assess the ever-changing competitive landscape with leaderboards and reports, powered by our cutting-edge products, developed exclusively for the global business community
Some Points of Light in the M&A Sector
Hardly any country or region managed to avoid red lines on the charts relative to M&A sector performance in the first quarter, except Japan and Australia (and the latter thanks to Newmont Corp’s acquisition of gold miner Newcrest in February). ).
Another positive point was the health sector, which saw a 60% increase in turnover this year. The index was driven primarily by Pfizer, which capitalized on the gains made by its COVID-19 vaccine and acquired oncology biotechnology company CGen for $42,000 million.
