U.S. M&A deal activity increased in January, going up 5.8% with 1,278 announcements compared to 1,208 in December. However, aggregate M&A spending decreased. In January, 28.8% less was spent on deals compared to December.
In terms of M&A deal activity over the past three months, two sectors tracked by FactSet saw an increase in deals relative to the same three-month period one year ago: Miscellaneous (6 vs. 4) and Government (1 vs. 0). On the other hand, 19 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 (relative to the same three-month period one year ago) were: Finance (573 vs. 1478), Technology Services (689 vs. 1238), Commercial Services (565 vs. 818), Distribution Services (223 vs. 402), and Producer Manufacturing (191 vs. 357).
Topping the list of the largest deals announced in January are: Emerson Electric Co.'s proposal to acquire National Instruments Corp. for $7 billion; Xylem, Inc.'s agreement to acquire Evoqua Water Technologies Corp. for $6.4 billion; CoStar Group, Inc. in talks to acquire Move, Inc. from News Corp. for a reported value of $3 billion; Vista Equity Partners Management LLC 's deal to acquire Duck Creek Technologies, Inc. for $2.6 billion; Matador Resources Co.'s agreement to acquire Advance Energy Partners LLC for $1.7 billion.
Source: FactSet
Source: FactSet
Source: FactSet
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