The Intralinks' Deal Flow Predictor has forecast a promising year ahead for M&A activity, especially in the second quarter of 2017.

Philip Whitchelo, the Intralinks Strategy and Product Marketing vice president, said the projection is a good sign for the market after a “subdued” M&A growth for 2016.

He also suggested the strong second quarter forecast may be a sign that the drag of a “slumped” metals and mining sector is wearing off.

“The growth in early-stage M&A deals in Australia is the strongest that we have seen for 19 quarters, suggesting that Australia may finally be shaking off the drag on M&A activity caused by the slumping metals and mining sector,” Mr Whitchelo said.

A statement released by Intralinks said that last year, local M&A activity in the fourth quarter increased by 47 per cent since the same period in 2015.  

The predictor’s forecast for deal counts in the 2017 global record also identified the Asia-Pacific (APAC) as the region of strongest year-on-year growth. According to Intralinks, the main sectors lifting growth in the APAC region are the healthcare, financial and consumer and retail sectors.

“APAC is the top performing region for early-stage M&A activity and is set to contribute heavily to first half of 2017’s expected global record deal count.

“This level of year-on-year growth in early-stage M&A activity is also the highest in APAC for almost five years,” Intralinks said.

Beyond APAC, early M&A activity enjoyed growth in two other global regions, including Latin America and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for the fourth quarter of last year. Activity declined by 5 percent in North America in the same period.

Intralinks developed its predictor to assess M&A activity at the beginning phases of a deal to project future M&A trends. Those early phases include deals in their predatory or due diligence stage.

“These early-stage deals are, on average, six months away from their public announcement,” Intralinks said.