HORIZONS | BDO'S GLOBAL VIEWOF MID-MARKET DEAL ACTIVITY 21
SOUTHERN EUROPE
BIGGER DEALS DRIVE REDUCED ACTIVITY TO CAP AN EXTRAORDINARY YEAR
In Q4 2021, there were 103 mid- market transactions in Southern Europe. In terms of numbers, although this represented a recovery, the deal volume was still a long way from the corresponding final quarters in the last four years. In fact, in Q4 2021 the overall number of deals actually fell by more than Q4 2020 (down 39%) and Q4 2019 (down 38%). Generally speaking, Q4 2021 showed a very different trend compared to the first part of 2021, when M&A activity was at its most active. Focusing on Q4 2021 deal value, aggregate deal value only dropped by 4% compared to both the corresponding quarters in 2020 and 2019. However, when comparing Q4 2021 with Q3 2021, we can see noticeably sharper declines of 23% in value and 38% in volume. Looking at average deal size, Q4 2021 recorded a great result, with the average value including PE activity at around USD 130m, the highest in 13 years and up 24% compared to the previous quarter when
the average deal value was also very high. Compared to the corresponding quarter in 2020, the average value in 2021 was 57% higher, suggesting that bigger deals largely drove the quarter’s activity. Looking at Southern Europe’s PE activity, Q4 2021 was a good quarter overall. Although the number of PE deals fell compared to the other quarters in 2021, that seemed to be in line with pre-COVID results over the last 10 years. PE deals accounted for 32% of all deals transacted in Q4 2021 and 41% in Q3 2021, which was the fourth highest proportion and the highest in the last 13 years respectively. In addition, when comparing Q4 2021 with the corresponding quarters in the previous two years, PE’s share of overall transactions was 32%, higher than both previous years, which finished at 29% and 25% respectively. Focusing on PE activity in terms of value in Q4 2021, the total value was USD 4.0bn, some 45% lower than overall value in Q3 2021. By comparing PE’s proportion of value with overall deal value, it is possible to conclude that in Q4 2021 PE had a
BIG PICTURE
• 2021 was an extraordinary year for M&A activity in Southern Europe with value reaching USD 68.2bn • Deal volumes and aggregate values fell in Q4 2021 compared to Q4 2020 but average deal values rose • TMT was the most active sector with 29 deals • BDO Heat Chart suggests that Industrial & Chemicals and Consumer will be the most active sectors moving forward.
PE/TRADE VOLUME &VALUE
250
25,000
200
20,000
150
15,000
10,000
100
5,000
50
0
0
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Trade Volume
PE Volume
Total Value (USD M)
PE Value (USD M)
Made with FlippingBook HTML5