Global M&A Report 2017: Technology Takeover (Boston Consulting Group)

Summary

• High-tech deals represented almost 30% of the total $2.5 trillion of completed M&A transactions in 2016.§1
• Approximately 70% of all tech deals in 2016 involved buyers from outside the tech sector, 9 percentage points more than in 2012.§1
• Some 26,000 deals took place worldwide in 2016, with aggregate deal value of about $2.5 trillion.§2
• The median EV/EBITDA multiple of about 13.6 is well above the historical average of 12.0 and close to the ten-year high of 13.7 in 2007.§3
• Announced deal value reached almost $1.3 trillion in the first half of 2017, above the historical average of $1.2 trillion.§3
• China more than doubled its 2015 announced deal value to almost $200 billion in 2016, with about two-thirds of its M&A activity outbound.§4

Key insights

1. The value of closed deals in 2016 was about $100 billion lower than expected because of rejected takeovers and deals in regulatory review.§2
2. The average one-week deal premium of 32% is close to the long-term average of 33%.§3
3. More than 22,000 deals were announced in the first half of each of the past three years.§3
4. Midea's acquisition of KUKA brought robotics expertise to China's largest appliance manufacturer.§4
5. Three global trends are China's appetite for international M&A, private equity's need to invest, and a growing volume of tech-target deals.§1
6. Health care and private equity buyers from China have been particularly active in outbound deals.§4