1. Trends
1.1 M&A Market
One major difference between 2014 and 2015 was that several
significant transactions occurred in 2015 even though some of them
were announced in 2014: the Lafarge and Holcim merger (EUR32
billion), the buyout of SFR by Numericable (EUR13.5 billion)
and GE's acquisition of Alstom's energy businesses
(EUR12.35 billion). Widely reported M&A transactions happened
in 2014 but with lower amounts, such as L'Oréal's
buy-back of 8% of its shares from Nestlé (EUR6.5 billion)
combined with the sale of its stake in Galderma (EUR3.1
billion), and the capital increase of Peugeot SA (EUR1.95
billion).
If global M&A activity in 2015 saw a record year (EUR4.282
billion) due to the USA's dynamism, the French M&A
market declined to USD160.8 billion (EUR147.21 billion),
dropping by about 30% compared to 2014, according to
Thomson Reuters. However, acquisitions of foreign companies by
French groups increased in 2015 and are expected to grow
