Do Canadians fall apart in the mergers and acquisitions space? Have they missed getting out into foreign business acquisitions too? Not according to information on performance last year:
Canadian Mergers and Acquisition activity increased for the third successive quarter in Q4 with 302 transactions worth approximately $52 billion. This represents an increase of 12% in the value of deals announced while the number of announcements increased by 9% over the previous quarter. The Canadian banks and pension funds announced numerous transactions that contributed significantly towards increased cross-border Mergers and Acquisiton activity and a consistent pace of mega deals (deals valued in excess of $1 billion) in the quarter.
- Four of the five major Canadian banks announced large acquisitions for a total of $14.4 billion; three of the four acquisitions were of foreign businesses.
- Almost all of the major Canadian pension funds announced transactions for a total of 12 transactions worth $8.8 billion.
- Bucking a long-term trend, the value of Canadian-led acquisitions abroad exceeded that of foreign-led takeovers by a ratio of 2.5-to-1
- Activity in the mega-deal segment was unchanged from the previous quarter at 9 transactions; total value of mega deals declined slightly from $28 billion in Q3 to $25 billion in Q4
- The Real Estate, Oil & Gas and Industrial Products sectors were the key drivers of M&A activity in Q4 representing 59% of the overall transaction volume
For more Mergers and Acquisitions information, please see our website: http://www.loewenpartners.com/