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Lawyers Weekly
Worldwide M&A activity has seen the slowest start to the year in five years, reaching just $US739.9 billion ($941.7 billion) for year-to-date 2009 - a 38 per cent decrease on the 2008 figure…
Worldwide M&A activity has seen the slowest start to the year in five years, reaching just $US739.9 billion ($941.7 billion) for year-to-date 2009 - a 38 per cent decrease on the 2008 figure
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According to the Thomson Reuters survey released Friday, the volume was the slowest M&A activity start since 2004. With the May volume totalling $US128 billion, it was also the slowest May since 2003.
The limited volume of transactions particularly hurt advisory fees, where completed M&A advisory fees declined 58 per cent for year-to-date 2009, from the same period in 2008.
The survey found that cross-border M&A activity totalled $US211.1 billion of the total year-to-date figure, predominantly driven by European targets and acquirers, where 60 per cent of such transactions were in the energy and power sector.
In the Asia-Pacific and Japan region, target M&A hit $US146.1 billion in the January to May 2009 period - a 34 per cent drop from the $US221.4 billion figure announced in 2008.
