Anti\u00adtrust autho\u00adri\u00adties inter\u00advene massi\u00advely \u2014 USA remains attrac\u00adtive- Chinese inves\u00adtors have a hard time<\/p>\n
Frank\u00adfurt \u2014 The M&A market got off to a buoyant start in the first quar\u00adter of 2018<\/strong>. The unch\u00adan\u00adged good econo\u00admic condi\u00adti\u00adons, favorable debt capi\u00adtal and a market with attrac\u00adtive take\u00adover targets ensure dyna\u00admic tran\u00adsac\u00adtion acti\u00advity that is unaf\u00adfec\u00adted by poli\u00adti\u00adcal and regu\u00adla\u00adtory diffi\u00adcul\u00adties. This applies in parti\u00adcu\u00adlar to tran\u00adsac\u00adtions with German parti\u00adci\u00adpa\u00adtion on the buyer, seller or target company side. Despite a slightly lower number of 550 deals<\/strong> compared with the first quar\u00adter of the previous year, the tran\u00adsac\u00adtion volume for deals with German parti\u00adci\u00adpa\u00adtion rose to US$82.8 billion. Thus, the market conti\u00adnues to move at a remar\u00adkably high level, accor\u00adding to the results of the latest M&A Insights by Allen & Overy.<\/p>\n Deal Driver<\/strong> From a German perspec\u00adtive, the inten\u00added break-up of Innogy was undoub\u00adtedly a high\u00adlight of M&A acti\u00advity. RWE and E.ON, Germany\u2019s two largest energy utili\u00adties, have agreed to split the former Innogy busi\u00adnesses between them. The deal volume here amounts to 37.86 billion US dollars.<\/p>\n Another bang for the buck in the first quar\u00adter: Geely\u2019s invest\u00adment in Daim\u00adler AG with a tran\u00adsac\u00adtion value of US$8.95 billion.<\/p>\n Anti\u00adtrust autho\u00adri\u00adties cause M&A deals to fail<\/strong> \u201cTran\u00adsac\u00adtions are getting bigger, but in certain markets the number of compe\u00adti\u00adtors is getting smal\u00adler. Where anti\u00adtrust autho\u00adri\u00adties inter\u00advene, howe\u00adver, they feed further M&A acti\u00advity,\u201d says M&A part\u00adner Dr. Hart\u00admut Krause (photo<\/strong>). For exam\u00adple, Bayer has to make a number of dive\u00adst\u00adments in order to complete the Mons\u00adanto deal. The Linde\/Praxair merger is also subject to strict condi\u00adti\u00adons impo\u00adsed by the anti\u00adtrust authorities.<\/p>\n More diffi\u00adcult condi\u00adti\u00adons for Chinese investors<\/strong> Nevert\u00adhel\u00adess, experts conti\u00adnue to expect Chinese inves\u00adtors to be invol\u00adved in signi\u00adfi\u00adcant tran\u00adsac\u00adtions in 2018. \u201cChina is stri\u00adving for global tech\u00adno\u00adlogy leader\u00adship. The tech\u00adno\u00adlogy requi\u00adred for this is to be purcha\u00adsed world\u00adwide \u2014 inclu\u00adding in Germany. Tech\u00adno\u00adlogy and produc\u00adtion compa\u00adnies in parti\u00adcu\u00adlar ther\u00ade\u00adfore remain at the top of the list of prio\u00adri\u00adties for Chinese inves\u00adtors. In banking and finance, on the other hand, they lack expe\u00adri\u00adence and do not get a chance in this area,\u201d says expert Krause.<\/p>\n USA remains attractive<\/strong> \u201cThe contro\u00adver\u00adsial poli\u00adti\u00adcal deve\u00adlo\u00adp\u00adments under Presi\u00addent Trump are hardly affec\u00adting M&A acti\u00advity with the U.S.,\u201d obser\u00adves Krause. Across the U.S., he said, compa\u00adnies are doing well. And further: \u201cIt remains to be seen whether and to what extent U.S. tax reform will actually put U.S. compa\u00adnies in a better posi\u00adtion than their foreign compe\u00adti\u00adtors when it comes to M&A tran\u00adsac\u00adtions. Clearly, medium- and long-term stra\u00adte\u00adgic busi\u00adness objec\u00adti\u00adves are stron\u00adger drivers of M&A tran\u00adsac\u00adtions than current poli\u00adti\u00adcal debates.\u201d<\/p>\n Outlook<\/strong> Anti\u00adtrust autho\u00adri\u00adties inter\u00advene massi\u00advely \u2014 USA remains attrac\u00ad\u00adtive- Chinese inves\u00adtors have a hard time Frank\u00adfurt \u2014 The M&A market got off to a buoyant start in the first quar\u00adter of 2018. The unch\u00adan\u00adged good econo\u00admic condi\u00adti\u00adons, favorable debt capi\u00adtal and a market with attrac\u00adtive take\u00adover targets ensure dyna\u00admic tran\u00adsac\u00adtion acti\u00advity that is unaf\u00adfec\u00adted by poli\u00adti\u00adcal and [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[886,1364,1366,1388],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-en","category-featured-en","category-news-en","category-shortcuts-en"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nDeal drivers are prima\u00adrily digi\u00adtiza\u00adtion and auto\u00adma\u00adtion, which as major tech\u00adno\u00adlo\u00adgi\u00adcal trends ensure that IT compa\u00adnies are very active on the buy side. At the same time, howe\u00adver, compa\u00adnies in this sector are beco\u00adming attrac\u00adtive targets for stra\u00adte\u00adgic inves\u00adtors, who are thus expan\u00adding their product and tech\u00adno\u00adlogy port\u00adfo\u00adlios. In addi\u00adtion, as in previous years, the phar\u00admaceu\u00adti\u00adcal and health\u00adcare sectors as well as indus\u00adtrial services and tele\u00adcom\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adti\u00adons are very active. There is also move\u00adment again in the banking sector, where there have been few tran\u00adsac\u00adtions in the recent past, not least because of the acqui\u00adsi\u00adtion of HSH Nord\u00adbank by a group of inde\u00adpen\u00addent inves\u00adtors led by U.S. finan\u00adcial inves\u00adtors Cerbe\u00adrus and J.C. Flowers for EUR 1 billion.<\/p>\n
\nThe impres\u00adsion that anti\u00adtrust autho\u00adri\u00adties are inter\u00advening massi\u00advely in M&A acti\u00advity has recently been rein\u00adforced once again. Parti\u00adcu\u00adlarly in areas where market shares are too high across all sectors, plan\u00adned tran\u00adsac\u00adtions are some\u00adti\u00admes subject to drastic rest\u00adric\u00adtions or even fall through altog\u00ade\u00adther in the end. The most promi\u00adnent recent exam\u00adple is certainly the failed take\u00adover of Air Berlin subsi\u00addiary Niki by Luft\u00adhansa. This trend is also borne out by figu\u00adres: Accor\u00adding to an Allen & Overy survey of merger control prac\u00adti\u00adces in 26 juris\u00addic\u00adtions, 38 deals failed due to regu\u00adla\u00adtory vetoes in 2017 alone.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nAfter 2016, the record year for Chinese corpo\u00adrate acqui\u00adsi\u00adti\u00adons in Germany, Chinese M&A acti\u00advity has decli\u00adned some\u00adwhat since 2017. As a result, there were only a few, rather small tran\u00adsac\u00adtions in the first quar\u00adter of this year. Hart\u00admut Krause explains the reasons: \u201cOn the one hand, the Chinese govern\u00adment issued regu\u00adla\u00adti\u00adons some time ago to prevent further capi\u00adtal flight abroad. On the other hand, legal hurd\u00adles pose diffi\u00adcul\u00adties for Chinese inves\u00adtors. Not least because of the tigh\u00adtening of foreign trade regu\u00adla\u00adti\u00adons, the Chinese are curr\u00adently acting more cautiously on the German M&A market.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAlthough the USA still prohi\u00adbits tran\u00adsac\u00adtions with Chinese acqui\u00adrers, the situa\u00adtion has deve\u00adlo\u00adped rather posi\u00adtively under Presi\u00addent Donald Trump with regard to German acqui\u00adsi\u00adti\u00adons. The USA will become an even more attrac\u00adtive loca\u00adtion for compa\u00adnies from Europe and thus also from Germany as a result of the tax reform. But the tax burden will also fall for US compa\u00adnies inves\u00adt\u00ading in Europe, because profits gene\u00adra\u00adted there will no longer be subject to subse\u00adquent taxation.<\/p>\n
\nHart\u00admut Krause is opti\u00admi\u00adstic about the further course of the German M&A year: \u201cNeither Donald Trump\u2019s US policy nor the approa\u00adching Brexit are having a nega\u00adtive impact on M&A acti\u00advity in Germany. Debt capi\u00adtal is still cheap and finan\u00adcial inves\u00adtors conti\u00adnue to have high levels of liquid funds at their dispo\u00adsal. The market could also deal with the conse\u00adquen\u00adces of an inte\u00adrest rate turn\u00adaround. The lights on the German M&A market ther\u00ade\u00adfore remain green.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"