This year’s mega deals – what can we look forward to in the rest of 2016?

As we enter into the final quarter of 2016, we can reflect upon a full nine months of completed mega deals involving respected UK companies. Zephyr, the company deals database, records that throughout the year of 2016, 19 UK companies have been sold at a value exceeding £1 billion.

 

Zephyr records that throughout 2016, the most valuable acquisition of a UK target company was one which completed earlier this month, that of SABmiller plc. SABmiller, the global brewing and bottle company, was acquired for an incredible £100.76 billion by Belgian beer manufacturing holding company, Newbelco SA/NV.

 

This year has seen many other notable mega deals, such as the acquisition of British natural gas company, BG Group PLC, by Royal Dutch Shell plc. The transaction was worth £47 billion and occurred in February.  Another high ranking mega deal occurred during the month of September, where the Japanese IT services company, Softbank Group Corporation, acquired ARM Holdings plc for a value of £24.34 billion.  During the first quarter of this year, household names EE Ltd and BT Group plc merged, with BT acquiring EE for a value of £12.5 billion.

 

Zephyr has also reported 42 rumoured and pending mega deals involving UK target companies, which will hopefully be completed during the remainder of 2016. 8 of these 42 mega deals are estimated at being worth upwards of £5 billion.  We have compiled a list below of some of the most notable, and valuable, pending mega deals.

 

Telefonica Europe plc by CVC Capital Partners Ltd 

CVC Capital Partners Ltd is rumoured to be acquiring Telefonica Europe plc for an estimated £10.3 billion. This is the most valuable pending mega deal involving a UK company at present, and if completed, should add a substantial amount to 2016’s total M&A value.

 

MBNA Ltd by Barclays plc

It is rumoured that the two British banking services companies, Barclays plc and MBNA Ltd are currently undergoing negotiations in order to complete the transaction. It is estimated that Barclays will be acquiring MBNA for a sum of £8 billion.

 

Easyjet plc by an undisclosed private equity company

Another acquisition which is rumoured to be taking place is that of budget airline company, and well-known household name, Easyjet plc, by an undisclosed private equity company. This particular mega deal holds an estimated value of £6.35 billion.

 

(All information sourced from Zephyr; information correct as of 17/10/2016)