Financial services recorded the highest value change of all sectors for M&A in 2013, with $10 billion worth of deals done in the last year compared to $742 million in 2012 – an increase of 1,248 per cent.
Financial services placed third in Mergermarket’s Australia M&A Trend Report: 2013, a ranking of M&A activity by sector, with 13.7 per cent share of the market, behind the resources sector (first place) and real estate (second).
Australia’s M&A activity in 2013 significantly improved compared to 2012 by both deal value and by the number of announced deals.
The $73.1 billion worth of deals represented a 66.5 per cent increase compared to the previous year’s $43.9 billion, with an extra 22 deals (445 deals in 2013 compared to 423 in 2012), according to the report.
The role of private equity buyouts in Australia’s M&A has been growing for the past four years and peaked in 2013 with a 16.9 per cent share in the country’s total M&A compared to 12.5 per cent in 2012, the report found.
Private equity buyouts valued at $12.4 billion reached the highest value since 2007’s $22.6 billion and more than doubled the value in 2012 ($5.5 billion) with a 125.5 per cent increase.
UBS Investment Bank retained its place at the top of the financial adviser league table by value ($30.2 billion) and also reached first place by deal count after advising on 28 deals, 14 deals more compared to 2012 and up 340.5 per cent by value.
