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M&A at a Glance (February 2014)
February 14, 2014 download PDF
January saw a mixed start to 2014 for global M&A, with activity down when measured by number of deals, but up (except for strategic deals) by total dollar volume. The U.S. M&A market was much brighter, with activity (in particular for sponsor-related deals) up significantly by total deal volume (with an increase of $72.03 billion overall and $53.42 billion in sponsor-related transactions) and up also by number of deals although less significantly. Figure 1. Telecommunications topped the most active target industries by total dollar volume for January and also for the last 12 months, while Computers & Electronics was the leader by number of deals in January and also for the last 12 months. Figure 2. Japan led inbound U.S. acquisitions in January by volume ($16.08 billion), while Canada held on to its lead by number of deals (36 in January; 365 over the last twelve months). In outbound U.S. crossborder transactions by volume, Taiwan made its debut on our charts (in the fourth spot), but the Netherlands topped the charts overall at $10.78 billion. Figure 3. Average deal size of U.S. public mergers more than doubled from December, with its strongest month since March 2013. Figure 4. Meanwhile, target break fees and reverse break fees converged in January 2014, with the former seeing an increase and the latter seeing a decrease as compared to the prior month. Figure 6. A majority of U.S. public mergers involved stock only or a combination of cash and stock consideration, an unusually high proportion compared to the average over the past twelve months in which 65.1% of transactions were cash only. Figure 9. Finally, hostile or unsolicited offers as a percentage of U.S. public mergers increased from 8.3% in December 2013 to 23.5% in January 2014. Figure 12.