Industrial Manufacturing M&A Value, Volume Surge to Record Highs
NEW YORK —In the second quarter of 2014, merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the industrial manufacturing sector hit record levels, accounting for the highest quarterly deal volume since the fourth quarter of 2007 and the highest value in more than 10 years, according to PwC US. Driven primarily by an uptick in mega deals (transactions worth more than $1 billion), the first half of 2014 has already surpassed the total deal value for all of 2013 and PwC expects healthy levels of activity to continue through the remainder of the year.
The value of industrial manufacturing deals (worth $50 million or more) in the second quarter of 2014 surged fourfold to $60.5 billion compared to $15.3 billion in the first quarter and just $9.9 billion in second quarter of 2013. In terms of overall volume, the number of announced transactions jumped to 62 deals from 36 in the first quarter (72 percent increase). On a year-over-year basis, the first half of 2014 is off to a tremendous start, recording 98 deals totaling $75.8 billion compared to 69 transactions worth $21.2 billion during the same period last year.