Not only were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK among the first to be hit by the global financial crisis, but they are also some of the last to be invited back to the party that is the recovery. Lagging the wave of bullish sentiment which has buoyed corporate activity so far this… [Read more]

The M&A market is continuing to roar. And with Q3 2010 M&A preliminary figures now out, the evidence is more than anecdotal: according to Thomson Reuters data, global dealmaking is up 21%, which constitutes the strongest quarter for M&A since Q3 2008. Indeed, Q3 2010 activity totalled US$599bn, the third consecutive quarter of growth, up… [Read more]

Notwithstanding the appreciation of crude oil prices during 2010, the frenzy of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the oilfield services sector continues. The bearish price environment of 2009 supported M&A activity on the back of attractive valuations and a desire to whittle down competition. During H1 2010, we saw a significant rise in such M&A… [Read more]

After a three-month courtship, UK-based insurer Prudential’s move to acquire American International Assurance (AIA), the life insurance arm of American Insurance Group (AIG), has amounted to nothing more than a cautionary M&A tale. In turn, the botched takeover attempt by the Pru – for a target almost a third bigger in size – has fired… [Read more]

There are two key aspects to President Obama’s banking reform: 1) It attempts to address the ‘too big to fail’ debate: Obama wants to place size limits on banks (although it is still unclear what these are). This should create a wave of divestments and carve-outs in the banking industry. 2) To break up the… [Read more]

Most people are well aware that the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries are big recipients of foreign direct investment (FDI). But they are also big sources of FDI. In 2009, for the first time, emerging market outbound mergers and acquisitions (M&A) flows outpaced inbound M&A flows, reaching US$131.8bn, according to Dealogic. Most of these… [Read more]

Having spoken to some of my colleagues at Corporate Financing Week, I’ve been struck by the volume and size of resource deals emanating from China, and I think we could be on the brink of a major programme of asset acquisitions of real concern to – among others – Australia’s policymakers. During his recent visit… [Read more]