U.S. Mergers & Acquisitions Monthly Review: December 2024

U.S. M&A deal activity increased in December, going up 0.6% with 997 announcements compared to 991 in November. However, aggregate M&A spending decreased. In December 4.8% less was spent on deals compared to November.

In terms of M&A deal activity, 5 of the 21 sectors tracked by FactSet saw an increase in M&A deal activity over the past three months relative to the same three-month period one year ago: Technology Services (672 vs. 622), Health Technology (128 vs. 104), Process Industries (100 vs. 92), Energy Minerals (29 vs. 23) and Miscellaneous (12 vs. 10).

On the other hand, 15 of the 21 sectors tracked by FactSet saw a decrease in M&A deal activity over the past three months relative to the same three-month period one year ago. The five sectors that witnessed the largest declines in M&A deal volume were: Finance (568 vs. 709), Commercial Services (389 vs. 527), Distribution Services (160 vs. 213), Industrial Services (189 vs. 238) and Consumer Services (221 vs. 270).

Topping the list of the largest deals announced in December are: Novolex Holdings LLC, a portfolio company of Apollo Management LP, agreeing to acquire Pactiv Evergreen, Inc. for $3.2 billion; Patient Square Capital entering an agreement to acquire Patterson Cos., Inc. for $2.8 billion; Macquarie Asset Management, Inc.'s agreement to acquire 40% minority stake in the US Gulf Coast Infrastructure Assets from Dow, Inc. for $2.4 billion; INEOS AG's deal to acquire CNOOC Holdings USA, Inc. from CNOOC Ltd., for a reported value of $2 billion; TOPPAN Holdings, Inc.'s agreement to acquire the business and assets related to the Thermoformed & Flexibles Packaging Business from Sonoco Products Co. for $1.8 billion.

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