North American M&A Volume and Value Both Fall

Bureau van Dijk Publishes January 2015 North America M&A Report from Zephyr

New York, NY (PRWEB) January 30, 2015

The value of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) targeting North American companies declined from USD 123,721 million to USD 98,506 million in January, marking the second consecutive monthly drop in investment levels. The disappointing result represents the lowest recorded aggregate value since March 2014 (USD 94,981 million). Declines were noticeable in both the US and Canada, but were more pronounced in the latter. Canadian companies were targeted in deals worth USD 4,616 million in January, compared to USD 20,434 million in December. In the US the figure was USD 93,968 million, down from USD 103,333 million last month.

Volume did not fare any better. In January there were 1,128 deals with North American companies signed off, down 19 percent on December's 1,398. Of the transactions recorded, 895 had US targets while 235 were attributable to Canada.

Of the top 20 deals by value targeting North American companies in January, 13 broke the USD 1,000 million mark while two topped USD 10,000 million. The month's largest deal was Energy Transfer Partners agreeing to pick up Regency Energy Partners for USD 18,000 million. This deal alone accounted for 18 percent of all investment in the region in January (USD 98,506 million). The month's second-largest transaction involved Rock-Tenn Company taking over MeadWestvaco for USD 13,889 million through a NewCo.

Lisa Wright, Zephyr director, said: “Although the decline in North American deal volume and value in January is disappointing, some solace can be taken from the fact that a number of sizable deals were announced during the month. Canadian private equity also showed some promise, so there are still positive aspects to build on as the year gets underway.”

Private equity and venture capital investment targeting companies in North America also declined in January, as value fell significantly to USD 8,669 million from USD 40,007 million in December and volume dropped from 445 to 316. A decline was also noticeable year on year; in January 2014 there were 392 transactions worth an aggregate USD 15,406 million. The US followed a similar pattern. In fact, the only area in which there were any positive developments was in Canada as private equity investment in the country actually increased both month-on-month and year-on-year.

For the full M&A Reports from Zephyr, please visit mandaportal.com

About Zephyr
Zephyr is an information solution containing M&A, IPO and venture capital deals and rumors with links to detailed financial company information. Zephyr, published by Bureau van Dijk, covers various deal types including M&A activity, IPOs, joint ventures and private equity deals. The deals on Zephyr are linked to the company financials and peer reports on BvD's product range, which includes Orbis, Amadeus and Osiris, for company valuation and benchmarking.

Zephyr contains information on over 1 million deals. Over 85,000 deals are added each year depending on levels of deal activity. Zephyr has no minimum deal value. Zephyr's UK and Singapore researchers speak over 40 languages and use native language and English sources in their deal research. http://www.zephyrdealdata.com

About M&A Portal
The M&A Portal is a resource for anyone interested in M&A Deals intelligence and information. We host M&A news, deal commentary, features and research papers written by experts across the globe.

About Bureau van Dijk
Bureau van Dijk (BvD) is one of the world's leading publishers of electronic business and company information. The company has 32 offices worldwide. BvD is best known for its range of international company information products that combines multiple high-quality data sources with flexible software to allow users to manipulate data for research, marketing intelligence and analysis. Products include Orbis, Amadeus, Bankscope, Oriana and Osiris. BvD also publishes the global M&A database, Zephyr. http://www.bvdinfo.com

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