Global M&A was sluggish in the beginning of 2016, but ended strong with a fourth quarter burst of activity. While aggregate 2016 deal volumes dropped 16% from the highs of 2015, Thomson Reuters reports that 2016 global deal volume hit US$3.7 trillion, the second highest since the financial crisis. US deal volume, at US$1.7 trillion, reflected a corresponding 17% decline. A significant part of the turnaround from the start of year came in the last quarter of 2016, which had US$1.2 trillion of global deal volume and seven of the top ten deals by size.

Corporate strategic buyers were significantly more active in 2016, often winning competitive M&A bids over private equity funds. Large corporate balance sheets and the difficulty of the regulatory environment for lending were likely factors. Many corporate deals were 2016’s largest deals, including AT&T’s announced US$107 billion acquisition of Time Warner. Other mega deals included the US$63 billion acquisition of US’s Monsanto by Germany’s Bayer and the US$30 billion acquisition of UK’s ARM by Japan’s Softbank.

Originally published in The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Lending & Secured Finance on May 1, 2017.