The total volume of M&A transactions decreased twice year-on-year in the third quarter of 2020 to $4.99 billion against $10.16 billion a year earlier, according to the latest issue of AK&M Information Agency's MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS MARKET monthly bulletin.
We saw the M&A-weakest ever third quarter: the amount of transactions was even 19.5% below the disastrous 2016 result. The number of transactions edged down slightly to 96 deals in July-September 2020 against 101 events a year earlier.
In ruble terms, the amount of transactions in the reporting period decreased 1.71 times to RUB 382.51 billion fr om RUB 656.72 billion. The average transaction value increased by 13.5% year-on-year to $52 million from $45.8 million (excluding the largest deals). Also, the M&A activity in August reached the lowest level since February 2015.
The largest transaction in 3Q20 was in the construction and development sector wh ere Sberbank received a 100% stake in GFI Investment Limited, the parent company of Filaret Galchev's EUROCEMENT Group, one of the world's largest cement producers, for $993.9 million.
The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic continues to affect the M&A market significantly. Many companies have scrapped their previous acquisition plans preferring to invest their resources in existing assets, AK&M analysts note.
More details on the M&A market results in the third quarter of 2020 are available in issue 271 of AK&M Information Agency's MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS MARKET monthly bulletin.
All bulletins of AK&M Information Agency are available on the AK&M Research Bulletin Store.
