By Olly Jackson, EMEA
reporter
While Brexit is partly to blame for a 22%
fall in UK M&A activity this year, there are troubling
signs for the future that suggest this lull could continue
beyond the next 12 months.
According to Mergermarket data, the UK
M&A market remained relatively stable in the immediate
aftermath of the referendum, defying many
analysts’ expectations. This was largely fuelled
by foreign investors’ desire to take advantage of
the collapsing pound sterling, and buy companies and divisions
at a time when the pound could not go that much
lower.
ONS statistics say the value of the UK M&A market
reached £28.4 billion (approximately $37.8 billion) in
three months after the result, higher than at any point since
2007. Since then, the pound has rallied against the dollar and,
in this time, M&A has fallen both in value and volume to a
point comparable to the...