Bermuda Deal Value Up 51% Over Q1 Of 2013
Total deal value across offshore jurisdictions increased 79 percent in the first quarter of 2014 when compared to the same period last year and was the highest it has been since the end of 2012, according to a report released by Appleby.
A spokesperson said, “Considering the first quarter of the year is historically the quietest for dealmaking, the findings set the stage for what looks to be an active 2014.
“The latest edition of Offshore-i, an Appleby report that provides data and insight on merger and acquisition activity in the major offshore financial centres, focuses on transactions announced during the first quarter of 2014, a period in which the firm observed a considerable increase in matter size.”
“This quarter’s average transaction size of $110 million USD across jurisdictions is the highest in the past seven years, aside from the anomalous final quarter of 2012 when a single $56 billing USD transaction caused average deal values to spike,” said Timothy Faries, Partner and Group Head of Corporate and Commercial in Bermuda.
“The growth in average deal size is the clearest sign yet of a new depth to the market, as investors become ever-more willing to put money to work on larger transactions.”
“In the first quarter of 2014, Bermuda was home to 96 transactions worth a combined $10.61 billion USD, giving an average transaction size of $111 million USD. The total deal value for the quarter was up 51 percent over the total deal value of $7.02 billion USD in the first quarter of last year. Substantially fuelled by Bermuda, the sector that saw the most activity across offshore jurisdictions in Q1 2014 was financial and insurance activities.
“While the report focuses primarily on matters involving an offshore target, it also found that Bermuda was active in terms of acquisitions involving a local company acting as an acquirer. Bermuda companies acted as acquirers in 50 transactions worth $20.22 billion USD, which marked the highest acquirer average deal value across jurisdictions of just over $400 million USD.
“Five of the 10 largest acquirer deals involved Bermuda-based businesses, with the $5 billion USD acquisition by Brookfield Property Partners of the 49 percent of commercial real estate developer Brookfield Office Properties that it did not already own topping the list.
“In total, there were 572 offshore deals in Q1 2014, down from the previous quarter but busier than the first quarter of 2013, which saw 528 deals. Though there were fewer deals, deal value came in at $62.9 billion USD — up 14 percent over the previous quarter and marking the fifth consecutive quarter for cumulative deal value growth.”
“The most significant conclusion to be drawn from the quarter’s figures is that we’ve turned a corner away from a difficult five years following the global financial crisis,” said Cameron Adderley, Partner and Global Head of Corporate & Commercial. “The number of deals in Q1 2014 was down compared to the previous quarter as expected, but total deal value and average deal size were up, setting the stage for a busy 2014.”
“There were 15 deals in excess of $1 billion USD in the quarter, including five worth more than $2 billion USD, and the deals spanned a wide range of sectors. Similar to the growth in average deal size, this spread of sector types indicates a depth returning to the market.
“The key themes of Q1 2014 across jurisdictions were:
- There were 15 deals worth in excess of $1 billion USD this quarter, including five worth more than $2 billion USD, and these big deals spanned a wide range of sectors.
- Financial services and insurance continues to be the most active sector, while retail, construction, and media and publishing also feature heavily.
- The largest type of deal by both volume and value was minority stake transactions, which make up almost half of deal value this quarter.
- There were 34 IPOs announced in the quarter worth a total of $11.7 billion USD. In the past decade, that cumulative value has only been topped on five occasions. Additionally, this quarter’s average IPO of $345 million USD has only been beaten once in the last decade.
- The total value of deals involving an offshore acquirer was $52 billion USD. Only two quarters in the past four years have seen more money being invested by businesses incorporated offshore.
- In this quarter, the offshore region trailed only North America, Western Europe, and the Far East and Central Asia in terms of deal value. More money was spent offshore than was spent in Eastern Europe, which includes Russia, and Oceania, which includes Australia, combined.
Rich gettin’ richer, poor gettin’ poorer.
So you’d rather the deal volume to decrease or stop????
or are you just jealous because you ar enot involved at the front end.
I’m not involved at the front end, middle end or back end, but I do see this as a positive for the future prospects of Bermuda.
This gives hope for our kids…make sure the work extrememly hard in school to get professionally qualified in order to be best placed to seize opportunities out there.