São Paulo – The value of announced merger and acquisition deals in the MENA region increased to USD 115.5 billion in H1 2019, up from USD 36.0 billion in H1 2018, according to information published on news websites in the region based on a Ernst & Young (EY) report. This was a 220.8% increase.
Despite the increase in value, deal volume witnessed a decrease of 10.7%, with 216 announced deals year-to-date through June, down from 242 deals recorded in H1 2018. In H1 2019, state-owned entities were involved in 55 deals (25% of total deals) amounting to USD 104.5 billion, 90% of the total deal value. These data include deals involving large companies and funds, such as the Saudi oil company Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) e Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) in the UAE.
The chemicals sector had the highest deal value with USD 69.3 billion, followed by the oil and gas sector with USD 14.2 billion. The provider care sector recorded USD 10.3 billion, the banking and capital markets sector recorded USD 5.1 billion, followed by the technology sector, which logged a deal value of USD 4.3 billion. The latter included Uber’s USD 3.1 billion acquisition of Careem Networks, the largest transaction in technology in the Middle East until now, as per released by EY.
“MENA executives are proactively pursuing strategic options to strengthen competitive advantage and accelerate growth in an era where technology continues to disrupt traditional business models,” said EY MENA mergers and acquisitions and equity capital markets leader Anil Menon said
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
