Weaker M&A deal value in developed markets during 2012, reports Zephyr

Weaker deal value in North America and Europe, most notably Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, together with a marked decline in deal-making value in the Far East and Central Asia, suppressed the overall figure. In North America, value fell 7% year-on-year to $1,033bn, while Western Europe was down 5% at $798,122m. The Asia-Pacific region suffered a 15% drop in deal value, pegged back by declining values in China and Australia, and deal-making in Russia and CEE hit a low not seen since the onset of the global financial crisis, as value halved from $208,248m to $101,198m, while volume slipped 13%.

There were varying results for the BRIC countries - while deal value in Brazil and India rose by 19% and 16%, respectively, China and Russia both experienced a decline compared with 2011, with value sliding by 27% in the former and halving in the latter, from $144,621m to $72,942m.

Of all the regions examined in the year under review, the Middle East was the only one to enjoy an upturn in deal value, as the figure jumped to a four-year high of $25,346m despite continuing political tension in the region.

Meanwhile, global private equity activity remained buoyant in 2012 as both volume and value increased for the third year in a row.

A total of 7,793 private equity and venture capital-backed transactions worth a combined $321,270m were signed off, compared with 7,752 deals worth $300,924m in 2011, a 7% increase in value year-over-year and in monetary terms the best performance since 2008, when the financial crisis struck.