FOOTNOTES
HILARY JOFFE: Why bankers are busy despite merger and acquisition activity plunging 50%
A couple of surveys of merger and acquisition activity in SA lately have painted a picture of what’s going on in the market as mixed, at best. According to the latest Global Transactions Forecast from law firm Baker McKenzie, the value of merger and acquisition activity in SA for the year to date, at $4.5bn, is about 50% down on its 2016 level. Baker McKenzie managing partner Morne van der Merwe cites the credit rating downgrade and the cost of raising capital, as well as political uncertainty and rand volatility, as reasons, although the firm’s analysts forecast a bounce in activity in 2018, to $8.5bn. The trend for the Africa and Middle East region is similar, although the firm’s survey measures only a handful of countries. Against that, however, Thomson Reuters reports that the value of announced merger and acquisition transactions with any sub-Saharan African involvement reached $24.1bn during the first nine months of 2017, the highest since 2013.Against the downtrend too is ane...
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