U.S. M&A deal activity decreased in February, going down 22.9% with 894 announcements compared to 1,159 in January. However, aggregate M&A spending increased. In February 24% more was spent on deals compared to January.
In terms of M&A deal activity, 4 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 (709 vs. 639), Health Technology (118 vs. 111), Electronic Technology (63 vs. 56) and Energy Minerals (27 vs. 22).
On the other hand, 16 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: Commercial Services (406 vs. 545), Consumer Services (172 vs. 274), Finance (585 vs. 681), Distribution Services (124 vs. 210) and Industrial Services (210 vs. 260).
Topping the list of the largest deals announced in February are: a private group led by X.AI, Corp., Valor Management LLC, Baron Capital Management, Inc., Vy Capital Management Co. Ltd. (Venture Capital), Atreides Management LP submitting an offer to acquire OpenAI OpCo LLC for $100 billion; Blackstone Corporate Private Equity agreeing to acquire Safe Harbor Marinas LLC from Sun Communities, Inc. for $5.65 billion; Turn/River Management LP's deal to acquire SolarWinds Corp. for $3.2 billion; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.'s agreement to acquire the purification and filtration business of Solventum Corp. for $4.1 billion; Diamondback Energy, Inc.'s deal to acquire Double Eagle Energy Holdings III LLC, a portfolio company of EnCap Investments LP, for $4.1 billion.
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