Mergers and acquisitions have gone quiet

Fresh data from Thomson Reuters yesterday served to underscore the steep fall off in local merger and acquisition activity in the past year.

The publishing group's quarterly survey of worldwide M&A activity found the value of deals announced in New Zealand in the March quarter fell 84.7 per cent to US$76.1 million ($132 million) when compared with the same period a year earlier. The number of transactions fell from 59 last year to 25.

The Thomson Reuters numbers are broadly consistent with data from Ernst & Young and the NZ Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (NZVCA) last week which found total private equity and venture capital investment in 2008 was just $178.1 million, compared with $1.2 billion during 2007, a fall of about 85 per cent.

Thomson Reuters found worldwide first quarter M&A deals were worth US$472.7 billion, a fall of 29.3 per cent on a year earlier and the lowest absolute level since 2004.