M&A at a Glance (May 2014)

April 2014 was a strong month for M&A, with deal volume by dollar value almost doubling globally to $431.21 billion and tripling in the U.S. to $151.47 billion over March 2014.  Strategic transactions were particularly strong as measured by total dollar value (increasing by 127% globally to $351.67 billion and 284% in the U.S. to $109.66 billion).  Sponsor-related deals also rebounded albeit at a slower pace (increasing by 26% globally to $79.53 billion and 78% in the U.S. to $41.81 billion).  While total deal value soared, the number of deals either declined or had much smaller increases.  Figure 1.  The Healthcare industry was most active in April 2014, with $75.65 billion in deal volume, thanks in large part to the offer for Allergan, Inc. by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc.  Figure 2.
 
April was also a robust period for international transactions, with inbound U.S. transactions increasing by 348% to $49.15 billion and outbound U.S. transactions increasing by 481% to $34.91 billion.  Figure 1.  Canada had an extremely strong April for U.S. inbound crossborder transactions, with $47.59 billion in volume, totaling more than all other countries' inbound U.S. volumes combined.  With respect to U.S. outbound crossborder transactions, France led the way with $17.30 billion in deal volume in April and also taking the lead in that category over the last 12 months.  Figure 3.
 
Focusing on U.S. public mergers alone, April 2014 saw the highest average deal value since March 2013.  Figure 5.  For mergers for which a definitive agreement has been filed, we note that for the first time since December 2013, no merger in April 2014 had a go-shop provision. Figure 8.  We also note that the incidence of tender offers is still low relative to the 12-month average, continuing a trend from last month.