(July 7) – Canadian M&A activity is setting a record pace through the first half of 2000.
Investment bankers, Crosbie & Co., which tracks mergers and acquisitions statistics, says that M&A action is up by 11% over last year based on the number of deals announced. The total value of deals announced in the first half is also up substantially to $149 billion, if you include the $49 billion Seagram-Vivendi deal. Drop the Seagram monster deal and the remaining $100 billion still marks a 67% increase from the $59.7 billion activity through the first half of 1999.
Industrials is the top producing sector, with 118 deals announced, up 23% year over year. Within the industrials, technology is leading the way with 31 deals, a 107% increase. Nortel Networks alone has executed three of the top 25 deals, each worth at least $1 billion.
Financial services checked in with 65 deals, worth about $6.1 billion; compared with 61 deals for $9 billion last year. Trimark Financial Corp.’s pending sale to Amvescap plc for $2.7 billion is the big deal in this sector.
Several large deals complemented the continued strong deal flow among smaller companies in the first half of 2000. In addition to the Seagram mega-deal, Alcaltel SA took out Newbridge Networks Corp. for more than $10 billion. BCE Inc., Rogers Telecommunications Inc., Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. and Franco-Nevada Mining Corp. were all involved in deals worth at least $5 billion. Strong U.S.-Canada cross-border activity also continued in the period.
With these strong numbers, it appears that the M&A advisory business will continue to bail out the brokerage’s weak investment banking businesses this year.
-IE Staff