Global technology M&A's down 43% to US$33.4b

The industry outpaced deal value for all industries in the first quarter of 2012 but fell behind in the second quarter.

According to Ernst & Young’s Global technology M&A update: April-June 2012, global technology mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deal value slowed to US$33.4b of aggregate deal value in the second quarter of 2012, down 43% year-over-year (YOY).

Resurgent macroeconomic uncertainty worldwide caught up with the technology industry, which had outpaced deal value for all industries in the first quarter of 2012 but fell behind in the second quarter.

Sequentially, 2Q12 aggregate deal value increased 33% from US$25.1b in 1Q12; however, as the report highlights the first quarter is  historically the lowest-value quarter for technology deals. Cross-border (CB) technology deals showed a sharp increase in 2Q12. CB aggregate deal value surged 58% sequentially to US$17.4b and represented 52% of all global disclosed value for the quarter (compared with 44% in both 1Q12 and 4Q11). Europe, Japan and Canada all saw  substantial growth in CB transaction value, while US CB deal value declined 54% sequentially, to US$4.1b in 2Q12.

Joe Steger, Global Technology Industry Transaction Advisory Services Leader  at Ernst & Young, says: “There were several surprises in the second quarter, with US buyers ‘sitting out’ a sequential increase in transaction value that was driven out of Europe, Canada and Japan. But despite macroeconomic uncertainty that just won’t go away, we continue to see spreading strength from the disruptive megatrends of ‘social mobile cloud’ and big data  analytics, which drive strategic transactions and enable innovation throughout the global economy.”