The UK’s merger and acquisitions (M&A) activity ‘bounced-back’ in the third quarter this year and increased 8% - its fastest rate of growth so far this year - compared to a 1% decrease in the second quarter this year.
Data from Intralinks on third quarter M&A activity also revealed the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region saw the strongest growth globally in M&A, despite the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.
Overall, EMEA early-stage M&A activity increased 13% in the third quarter this year compared to the same period last year.
Philip Whitchelo, vice president of strategy and product marketing at Intralinks explained that EMEA “is easily the best-performing region this year to date for early-stage M&A activity, driven by continued strong levels of asset disposals in Italy, France, Spain and Germany.”
Intralinks has also predicted the global number of deals announced to be 3% higher than full-year 2015 activity, making 2016 the ‘new peak’ for M&A activity.