Global M&A market hits record $ 5.7 trillion in 2021
The volume of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the world in 2021 reached a record, thanks in part to low interest rates and a large amount of free cash, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The total value of global transactions, as of December 21, 2021, amounted to $ 5.7 trillion, which is 64% more than in the same period last year. At the same time, their number increased by 22% - up to 59,748 transactions, Refinitiv reports.
The companies used money accumulated in the early stages of the pandemic to conduct transactions. The volume of cash and cash equivalents in companies whose shares are included in the Standard & Poor's 500 index in the third quarter increased by 11% in annual terms - to about $ 3.78 trillion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Specialized mergers and acquisitions (SPACs) mergers accounted for 11% of total M&A deals this year, according to Dealogic data as of December 8. According to the results of the whole last year, this figure was 6%.
2021 M&A Major Deals
High-profile news in 2021 included the decision to merge AT&T Inc. and Discovery Inc. in order to combine media assets into a new company with a listing on the exchange. She was named Warner Bros. Discovery. Under the terms of the agreement, AT&T will receive $ 43 billion, and its shareholders will own 71% of the new company, Discovery shareholders - 29%. AT&T expects to complete the deal in mid-2022. Warner Bros. Briefcase Discovery will bring together over 100 well-recognized and popular brands around the world, including HBO, Warner Bros., Discovery, DC Comics, CNN, Cartoon Network, HGTV, Food Network, TNT, TBS, Eurosport, TLC, Animal Planet and others.
Payments company Square Inc., led by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, agreed in the summer to take over Australian fintech company Afterpay Ltd. by about $ 29 billion.
In addition, at the end of 2021, another major deal was announced, in which the American software developer Oracle Corp. buys Cerner Corp., which specializes in electronic health records, for $ 28.3 billion.
Dec. 31, 2021