M&A / Equity Transactions

China Investment Research Volume 24 – China Outbound Investments Q4 2014

China outbound M&A / equity activity was USD 16.7 billion, up 46% versus Q3, although still down 10% versus the average of the past five quarters. Volume increased by 11% versus Q3 2014 and was up 32% versus the average of the past five quarters. These produced a 31% increase in average transaction size from Q3.

In contrast to the previous 2 quarters, deals from Financial sector (which includes real estate) led in volume with total 22 transactions. The Consumer Goods and Services sector and Industrial sector ranked second with 12 transactions each, followed by Technology and Health Care.

Financials led with aggregate value of USD 9.4 billion, driven by a series of real estate M&A transactions. Industrials ranked 2nd with USD 2.4 billion.

Asia and Europe led Q4 2014 in volume with 25 and 18 transactions respectively, representing 62% of total volume. Hong Kong itself represented over 50% of Asian volume.

Europe ranked first with USD 5.9 billion in aggregate value, while North America ranked second with USD 4.5 billion in aggregate value. Again, both totals were driven by large real estate / hotel transactions.

M&A activity was once again strongly influenced by large and mid-sized transactions. There were 5 transactions over USD 1 billion and 9 more between USD 465 million and USD 1 billion. Collectively, these 14 transactions represented 72% of aggregate amounts in Q4, while only 20% of total volume. Around half of of the volume involved transactions under USD 100 million.

China Investment Research Volume 23 – China Outbound Investments Q3 2014

China outbound M&A / equity activity was USD11.4bn, down 35% versus Q2, and down 44% versus the average of the past five quarters. Volume increased by 11% versus Q2 2014 and was up 30% versus the average of the past five quarters. The increased volume and reduced aggregate values led to a 47% decrease in average transaction size from Q2.

As in the prior two quarters, Consumer Goods and Services led in volume again with total 18 transactions. The Technology sector ranked second with 10 transactions, followed by Financial Services and Industrials.

Utilities led with aggregate value of USD2.9bn, followed closely by Consumer Goods and Services with USD2.7bn.

Europe and North America led Q3 2014 in volume with 21 and 20 transactions respectively, representing 66% of total volume. Europe has now led in volume for 4 of the 6 quarters since Q2 2013.

Europe also ranked first with USD6.1bn in aggregate value, while North America ranked second with USD3.1bn in aggregate value.

M&A activity was once again strongly influenced by large and mid-sized transactions. There were five transactions over USD500m and three more over USD400m. Collectively, these 8 transactions represented 75% of aggregate amounts in Q3. Nearly 60% of the volume involved transactions under USD100m.

↓ 35%

China Investment Research Volume 22 – China Outbound Investments Q2 2014

Despite the current global M&A boom, Chinese outbound M&A/equity of USD17.5bn showed only a 1% increase from Q1 with overall volume declining by 7% to 56. There were 9 M&A/JV transactions over USD500m. All of these were made by large Chinese state- owned enterprises (SOEs).

Latin America led in aggregate value – driven by the Las Bambas transaction. Europe led in volume (39% of total volume) for the fourth time in the past six quarters since Q1 2013.

Basic Materials led in aggregate value, due to the Las Bambas deal (the largest outbound Chinese equity investment deal to date). The Consumer segment was second (but led again in volume), while Financial Services, primarily Real Estate, ranked third.

China Investment Research Volume 21 – China Outbound Investments Q1 2014

Aggregate M&A value of USD 17.3bn was 36% lower than in Q4, even though volume of 60 was 9% higher than in Q4. The 9 largest transactions, all over USD 750m, represented 73% of aggregate value but only 15% of total volume. Despite such large deals, nearly 75% of transaction volume involved transactions of USD 100m or less. The Consumer sector led in volume followed closely by Technology, which led in aggregate value (38% aggregate value). Asia led in volume (38%), followed by North America and then Europe. North America led in aggregate value (39%), closely followed by Europe (37%), the leader in the previous quarter.