Latest M&A Statistics for Q4 2020
The UK Office for National Statistics have just released their latest data for Mergers and Acquisitions involving UK companies for Q4 2020, during the period October to December 2020 – Statistics for Q4 2020.
Statistics for Q4 2020 Headlines
In Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2020 cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) saw notable increases in both value and number, while domestic M&A recorded sizeable decreases.
Inward M&A (foreign companies abroad acquiring UK companies) was £4.3 billion, higher than Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2020 (£3.2 billion).
Outward M&A (UK companies acquiring foreign companies abroad) was £4.5 billion in Q4 2020, an increase of £3.1 billion on Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2020 (£1.4 billion).
Domestic M&A (UK companies acquiring other UK companies) was £2.2 billion in Q4 2020, lower than the previous quarter (£4.4 billion).
The amount of M&A activity has been affected by the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, where the number of completed deals were much lower in April and May 2020; monthly deals have followed a broadly flat trend since June 2020, though these were lower than the numbers completed per month over 2019.
Monthly M&A
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity has been affected by the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, where the number of completed deals were much lower in April and May 2020. Since the fall in the monthly total of domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) from 183 in March 2020 down to a low of 42 in May 2020, there was an upward trend in the number of deals to 116 in October 2020.
The total number of M&A deals then fell by 32 between October and November, mainly due to fewer inward M&A deals between the two months, with domestic and outward M&A deals only seeing a slight decrease. The month of December saw a similar number of M&A deals to November.
Q4 2020 saw 283 completed transactions, a slight decrease of eight when compared with the previous quarter (291), but a sizeable decrease of 150 when compared with Q4 2019 (433).
The total number of monthly M&A deals has followed a broadly flat trend since June 2020, yet these were lower than the numbers completed per month over 2019. For outward M&A, the number of deals did fall between March 2020 and May 2020, yet the number of deals completed in December 2020 (21) was very similar to that in March 2020 (24). The monthly number of domestic and inward M&A deals remained below the numbers in March 2020. There was a relatively large increase in domestic M&A deals between May 2020 (14) and June 2020 (44); likewise for inward from September (31) to October (57).
The Bank of England Agents’ Summary of Business Conditions report for Q4 2020 states that “Activity has recovered relative to troughs earlier in 2020”, and reports “Investment intentions remained subdued overall, though some contacts are beginning to reinstate projects”.
Inward M&A
The estimates for the total value of M&A of UK companies made by foreign companies increased by £1.1 billion to £4.3 billion in Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2020 when compared with Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2020 (£3.2 billion). This was £11.4 billion lower than the value of £15.7 billion recorded in Q4 2019.
Notable inward acquisitions completed in Q4 2020 were:
- Sampo Plc of Finland, which acquired Hastings Group Holdings Plc of the UK, details here
- Perkinelmer Inc of the USA, which acquired Horizon Discovery Group Plc of the UK, details here
Inward M&A
There were 114 successful inward acquisitions by foreign companies in Q4 2020, an increase of 25 transactions on the number reported in the previous quarter (89) and 35 fewer than Q4 2019 (149).
There were 23 inward disposals of UK companies involving a change of majority share ownership during Q4 2020. These were worth £0.4 billion, a decrease of £0.3 billion on the value reported in Q3 2020 (£0.7 billion) when 29 disposals were recorded.
In 2020 there were 446 completed inward M&A worth a total of £16.3 billion compared with 609 inward M&A with a value of £55.5 billion recorded in 2019.
Outward M&A
The value of outward M&A UK companies acquiring foreign companies involving a change in majority share ownership in Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2020 was £4.5 billion, a £3.1 billon increase compared with Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2020 (£1.4 billion) and £1.5 billion increase on Q4 2019 (£3.0 billion).
Notable high value outward acquisitions in excess of £100 million and which completed in Q4 2020 were:
- Ocado Group Plc of the UK, which acquired Kindred Systems Inc of the USA, see more here
- HH Global Enterprise Network Ltd of the UK, which acquired US owned Innerworkings Inc, details here
Outward M&A
During Q4 2020 there were 10 outward disposals involving a change of majority share ownership. These transactions were valued at £11.1 billion, £10.9 billion higher than Q3 2020 (£0.2 billion when seven disposals were reported. The increase in both the number and value of outward disposals seen in Q4 2020 can largely be explained by additional large value deals completing.
One notable large outward disposal which completed in Q4 2020, was Aviva Plc of the UK which disposed of Aviva Limited Aviva Asia Pte Limited of Singapore, more here.
In 2020 the total value of completed outward M&A was £15.2 billion, £6.7 billion lower than the value in 2019 (£21.9 billion) and the lowest recorded since 2010 (£12.4 billion). There were 191 successful outward M&A during 2020, 70 fewer deals than in the previous year (261).
Domestic M&A by value
In Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2020 the estimates for the value and number of domestic M&A (UK companies acquiring other UK companies) was £2.2 billion, half the value previously recorded in Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2020 (£4.4 billion) and explained by the completion of a lower number of higher valued acquisitions.
A few notable large valued domestic acquisitions that completed in Q4 2020 were:
- RWS Holdings Plc of the UK, which acquired SDL Plc of the UK, details here
- Mitie Group Plc of the UK, which acquired Interserve (Facilities Management) Ltd of the UK, more here
Value of domestic M&A transactions involving UK companies by quarter
There were 124 completed domestic acquisitions involving a change in majority share ownership in Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2020, 37 deals fewer than Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2020 (161) and 105 fewer than Q4 2019 (229).
Domestic M&A by number
In 2020 the value of completed domestic M&A was £10.8 billion, an increase of £1.8 billion when compared with £9.0 billion recorded in 2019. This increase can be explained by the completion of more larger value domestic M&A transactions.
There were 605 completed domestic M&A involving a change in majority share ownership, in 2020, a sizeable decrease of 306 transactions on the number recorded in 2019 (911).
The above data for M&A Statistics for Q4 2020 was extracted from the following Office of National Statistics full details here.
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