Merger and acquisition activity involving Canadian dealmakers hit an all-time high of 3,173 transactions in 2011, according to a report issued Friday by leading business consultancy PwC.
However, the total value of the deals — $189 billion — while up 22% from 2010 and about double that of 2009, was still well off the peak reached in 2007, according to PwC.
The company, the Canadian member of global professional services and accountancy firm PricewateerhouseCoopers, says Canadian deals represented 10% of the global M&A market in 2011, up from seven per cent at the 2007 market peak.
PwC says much of M&A activity was focused outward, with the number involving domestic Canadian targets dropping to 51% — down from a high of 81% in 2006.
Also, for the first time in history, PwC says the value of Canadian acquisitions into the United States outpaced the value of US-led deals in Canada.
“Canada is coming off a strong year, despite a number of economic setbacks globally,” said Kristian Knibutat, PwC’s Canadian deals leader.
“As a country we stepped onto the world stage and have established a level of credibility that we view as extremely noteworthy.”
As measured by deal value, the top five Canadian M&A sectors were: metals and mining (19%), real estate (16%), energy (16%), financials (12%) and industrials (nine per cent).
In 2012, Canadian M&A will likely move forward at what the firm called a “measured pace.”
“We anticipate Canadian M&A to outpace global M&A growth rates and end the year in-line or moderately below the 2011 domestic tempo,” the PwC report said.
However, Knibutat cautioned that predicting how 2012 will turn out is “proving to be difficult.”
“There is much uncertainty and the world is waiting for a number of events to unfold. The most likely scenario is that Canadian M&A will move along at an unremarkable pace, but forward nevertheless.”