UK M&A hit a post-crisis high value during 2014 after a relatively flat five year period
The announcement of 1,338 deals worth £94.4bn accounted for 17.5% of the total European M&A value (£539.3bn) in 2014, and for the first time on Mergermarket record it was not the most targeted country. The total UK M&A value still increased 23% compared to 2013 (£76.7bn).
The UK’s M&A value, and consequently the share in Europe’s total, came second after France (18%) which saw £97.3bn-worth of deals. To put the drop into context, in 2013 France was only in fifth position with a 5.9% market share while the UK accounted for 18.7% of Europe’s M&A value.
In terms of deal count, however, the UK was still the main focus, accounting for 21.4% of all European deals (19.9% in 2013), with 183 more deals compared to the previous year (1,155 deals). The total was considerably higher than the second most active country (Germany) with 500 more announcements, reaching the highest annual volume in seven years.