M&A activity likely to heat up this year after a cool 2016

SINGAPORE (March 14): The volume and value of merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions for 2016 were down from the record highs of 2015 despite cross-border activity remaining resilient, according to KPMG International’s M&A Predictor report.

Looming rate hikes and uncertainty around 2017 policy shifts made the final two quarters of 2016 ripe for mega-deals, but in spite of the high transaction volumes seen especially in 4Q16, the overall deal value was lower than 2015’s stellar numbers.

Meanwhile, cross-sector deals have climbed steadily as a proportion of all deals, rising from the low 30th percentile in the mid-2000s to 43% in 2015 and 2016. The value of these M&A activities also rose from 16-24% over the last 10 years as a proportion of all deals.

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