Global Acquirer Trends Report, Q3 2018 - Få överraskningar trots volatil omvärld

The third quarter yielded few surprises for mid-market M&A – except maybe for the fact that in such a volatile era, we saw so few surprises.

North America continued to lead the world in mid-market transactions, with 1,397 deals out of 2,542, and more than half the world’s total volume. The trend continued the slight downward slide we have seen all year, down from 1,434 in Q2 and 1,452 reported in Q1. Next-largest was the United Kingdom & Ireland (UK&I), which reported 374 total deals, down slightly from 397 in Q2. DACH reported 291 deals, slightly up from Q2’s 272, and the Nordics dipped to 225 from 262 in Q2. Greater China & India was relatively flat with 138 deals, just slightly down from Q2’s 147, while Iberia posted 117, also a little softer than Q2, which saw 124.

Domestic deal volume stayed strong in most markets. North American domestic deal volume remained robust in the third quarter (342 inbound to 1,055 domestic), a 24% to 76% mix, weighted a little more heavily toward the domestic than in Q2, which recorded 302 inbound deals to 1,132 domestic, a 21% to 79% mix, and within single digits of Q1’s 307 to 1,145. Internationally, volumes were divided more narrowly between inbound and domestic. The UK&I reported a 43%/57% split (160/214) between inbound and domestic, respectively, followed by DACH (148/143), the Nordics (114/111), Iberia (62/55), and Greater China & India (75/63).

In most markets outside North America and the UK&I (DACH, Iberia, Nordics, and Greater China & India) inbound deals outpaced domestics, and total deal volume as well as domestic vs inbound M&A activity stayed on par with Q2 and Q1’s strong totals, continuing the year’s solid performance.

Global Acquirer Trends is a quarterly report focusing on M&A activity across key international markets.

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