Trends And Developments Switzerland

A Busy Year for M&A

2018 was a very strong year for M&A in Switzerland. With almost 500 transactions, whereof more than 150 involved private equity investors, the number of transactions surpassed even the record year of 2014. Overall transaction value was USD120 billion, marking a slight increase on 2017, but due to the lack of mega deals did not reach the record level of 2014. The number of outbound transactions was almost twice as high as the number of inbound transactions and in terms of transaction volume, Asia was the main source for acquisitions of Swiss companies.

Activists Playing a Key Role with Limited Instruments

Compared to 2017, shareholder activist campaigns were hardly conducted in 2018. However, shareholder activists are still a significant force in Switzerland: in some midsized listed companies, they requested that representatives be elected as members of the board of directors and/or that certain rules in the articles of association be amended