MENA’s value of M&A deals hit USD9.3b in Q3

26 Nov 2014

(MENAFN) The Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) merger and acquisition activity increased by 17 percent during the July-September period of this year, with 109 deals announced compared with 93 deals during the same period last year, despite a decline in the value of announced deals by 47 percent to reach USD9.3 billion compared with USD17.5 billion in the third quarter of 2013, Emirates 24/7 reported.

During the third quarter of this year, both the value of domestic and outbound deals decreased by 70 percent and 59 per cent, respectively, while the value of inbound deals rose by 16 percent in comparison with the same quarter last year, though domestic deal activity did increase by 59 percent.

In terms of private equity deals, 20 sovereign wealth fund or private equity deals were registered during the third quarter of this year with September recording the most activity of 9 deals followed by July and August with 6 and 5 deals respectively.

The M&A domestic deals were focused on the consumer products, asset management and real estate sectors, while international investors focused on oil and gas, diversified industrial products and consumer products sectors for their investment opportunities within the MENA region.

Meanwhile, The UAE was the leader in terms of countries in mergers & acquisition activity in the MENA region both in terms of number of inbound deals and the value of deals, with the country accounting for 48 percent of inbound deals with a total value of USD4.26 billion, which accounts for 93 percent of the inbound deals into the region during the third quarter of this year.