The trend towards big money mergers and acquisitions in Europe continued through the first nine months of 1996, according to mergers and acquisitions adviser, Broadview Associates. The number of deals to the end of September totaled 987, only three more than in the corresponding period of 1995. However, the value of these deals jumped by more than 60% to an estimated $48.7bn. The UK once again accounted for the largest proportion of deals, but a significant proportion of those transactions involved the sale of UK companies to companies from other countries. 36% of all company’s sold were UK-based. Across Europe, the most active companies were Philips Electronics NV which closed 10 mergers and acquisitions deals over the past nine months; CHS Electronics Inc which acquired seven European companies during the period and Sema Group and Siemens AG which each acquired six companies. Mergers and acquisitions action varied by sector. The number of deals declined in the hardware sector, but a spate of large strategic deals caused transaction value to rise sharply. Driven by impending deregulation in Europe, the telecommunications services sector saw a high level of activity during the nine months with the value of deals jumping 15% over last year’s figure. In the media and content services sector the number of deals made increased substantially, pushing up the value of transactions to $11.3bn.
