A Global Overview Of December 2015 M&A Activity

According to Mergermarket's December insider, November 2015 was a record setting month for M&A activity. By the end of the month, global M&A value reached US$3.9tn which surpassed the 2007 full year record by almost 6%. This record came on a drop in volume by 1,228 transactions which further cements 2015 as the year of the mega deal. The top sector was Pharma, Medical & Biotech (PMB) with 84 transactions representing US$201.3bn. The driver behind this sector was the record breaking US$183.7bn Pfizer Inc.'s bid for Allergan PLC. This represented over 90% of PMB's total deal value and set helped solidify the record breaking year.

The North American market followed suit and also set a new record for annual deal value (US$1.9tn) surpassing the 2007 mark by US$400bn with a month still remaining in the year. The Pfizer/Allergan deal helped propel the highest outbound deal value ever at US$455.1bn. Even more surprising is that inbound value was the second highest ever,