First Half M&A: Decidedly European Flair:Missing the Year-earlier’s Staggering U.S. Dollar Volume, M&A Soars Overseas

A number of developments color any look at M&A activity during the first half of 1999, and chief among those was Europe. As Scott Lindsay, co-head of M&A at Credit Suisse First Boston pointed out, “There was almost as much M&A business announced in Europe in the first six months as was announced [globally] in all of 1989.” Indeed, European companies became targets this year to the tune of $455 billion worth of announced deals, up 50% from the year-earlier’s $303.6 billion, according to Thomson Financial Securities Data Co. The five most active nations, the U.K., France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, contributed the lion’s share with nearly $356 billion. By comparison, the top five nations during the first half of 1998-the U.K., Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany-racked up $231 billion, or 35% less than this year’s five most dynamic countries.