The value of UK mergers and acquisitions (M&A) skyrocketed by nearly two-thirds in the first half of the year as appetite for bigger deals rebounded among corporate buyers.
There has been a total of £68bn worth of M&A deals so far in 2024, up from just £41bn in the first half of 2023. This compares to only a five per cent increase globally, according to new data from PwC.
This was largely due to a handful of mega-deals, with 16 deals greater than £1bn worth a cumulative £42bn. In the first half of 2023, there were only seven deals worth over £1bn, which totalled £17bn in value.
Lucy Stapleton, global head of deals at PwC UK, said: “The UK M&A activity in the first half of the year has mirrored the performance of the second half of last year, reflecting a cautious confidence in the current deals market.
“Macroeconomic conditions continue to stabilise which make the conditions for deals more favourable, especially compared to where the market was at this point last year. So far, we have seen market activity dominated predominantly by corporates who have capital and are chasing growth.”
However, the rise in value of UK dealmaking came despite a slide in the number of transactions getting over the line. When examining total number of deals, PwC found there were only 1,703 in the first half of 2024, compared to 2,126 a year ago, a 20 per cent decrease.
Looking by sector, industrials and services saw the most deal activity with 456 deals, followed by consumer markets (383 deals) and technology, media and telecoms (376 deals).
Despite coming in second by M&A deal numbers, consumer markets brought in the highest value for the period, making up almost a third with £20bn worth of transactions. Financial services followed closely with £19bn, then TMT at £11bn.
Private equity took a slight dip throughout the six months, with 37 per cent of deals involving the sector, down from 41 per cent last year. Value revealed a similar dip, with private equity deals accounting for 46 per cent of deal value compared to 52 per cent before.