2013 Global Tech, Media, And Telecom M&A Up Over 50% From 2012, article in Forbes

by Peter High, published on Forbes.com

01-20-2014

If it seems like M&A activity in the technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) sectors has been reaching a fever pitch, the data backs up the hypothesis. Mergermarket has released a 2013 Global M&A roundup report for the sector, and the conclusions are interesting:

• In 2013 global TMT M&A activity totalled $510.3 billion, an increase of 54.1% above last year ($ 331.1 billion). This was the highest annual value since 2006 ($603.8 billion) as a result of 14 mega-deals (above $5 billion), the highest number since the 21 mega-transactions in 2007.
• A 45% stake in Verizon Wireless sold for $124.1 billion to Vodafone was the highest valued transaction in 2013 and represents almost a quarter (24.3%) of total TMT M&A and 5.6% of global M&A ($2,216.4 billion). Without this deal, TMT activity would have been valued at $386.2 billion, still 16.6% up compared to 2012.
• M&A activity increased in all sub-sectors and was particularly strong on the Telecommunications market ($251.9 billion), which was 104.7% up this year. However the increase would be only 3.8% without $124.1 billion Verizon Wireless deal, representing 49.3% of Telecommunications M&A.
• In technology, the biggest deal of 2013 came in February when Dell entered into a $20.2 billion agreement to be acquired by private equity firm Silver Lake Partners and Dell CEO Michael Dell.
• The average deal size for global TMT deals in 2013 was $443.2 million, up from $301.5 million in 2012 and represented the second year to see an increased average deal size. It was the highest average deal size for global TMT deals on Mergermarket record.

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