M&A deals in UK fall to 27-year quarterly low
THE NUMBER of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the UK and arranged abroad by UK-owned firms fell to at least a 27-year low in the second quarter of the year.
Balfour Beatty and Carillion called off a construction mega-merger last month, but official data released this morning showed that the firms weren’t the only ones shying away from M&A.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday showed that between April and June, there were 37 domestic deals, 19 British companies snapped up by foreign firms, and 17 deals done by UK businesses abroad.
The total number of M&A deals organised fell to just 73, the lowest figure since records began in 1987. Until 2007, it was common to see more than 300 deals done each quarter, but the number has never returned to this level.
The recent economic recovery seems to have done little to drive activity, and companies are still avoiding mergers. Only 409 M&A deals were organised in the year to June, in comparison to 1,549 during 2007.