M&As plummet - but IPOs could take the slack
Number of M&As and IPOs fallen sharply across the globe, but “ready to spring back to life,” say Ernst & Young
The number of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and initial public
offerings (IPOs) has declined considerably worldwide due to the global
recession.
The
OECD
said that global M&A activity is expected to fall by 56 percent in 2009, the
largest fall since 1995. The number of IPOs has fallen in the 11 months to
November 2009 to 459 from 740 last year.
“This fall is largely due to the 60 percent decline in value of cross-border
M&A by firms based in the OECD area, from over $1trillion (£613bn) in 2008
to $454bn (£278bn) in 2009,” said the OECD in a statement.
However David Wilkinson, UK IPO partner at
Ernst &
Young, said: “The appetite for flotations on the London Stock
Exchange is ready to spring back to life, with a clutch of companies planning to
list in the early part of 2010,” reported City AM.
Further reading:
Lessons
to be learned from Titcheners’ collapse