European M&A markets set to climb higher over next six months

The Intralinks Deal Flow Predictor forecasts the number of future merger and acquisition (M&A) announcements by tracking early-stage M&A activity – new sell-side M&A transactions across the world that are in preparation or have begun their due diligence stage. These early-stage deals are, on average, six months away from their public announcement.

According to the latest Intralinks Deal Flow Predictor report, the number of announced M&A deals in Europe, the Middle East & Africa (EMEA) is forecast to increase by around 5% year-over-year during the next six months, the fastest rate of growth in M&A activity since Q2 2016. Over the next two quarters, we expect the strongest growth in EMEA M&A announcements to come from the materials, real estate and industrials sectors in Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and Northern Europe.

Among the five largest European economies, Italy, France and the UK will show the highest increases in M&A announcements over the next 6 months, whereas levels of M&A announcements in Germany and Spain are set to decline, reflecting weaker early-stage M&A activity in those two countries.

If you want to know the future of global M&A six months ahead of everybody else, download your copy of the Intralinks Deal Flow Predictor here to read:

• Global and regional M&A predictions for Q2-Q3 2018 and sector activity heat maps
• A spotlight feature on private equity dealmaking
• An interview with Philip Thomas, Partner at law firm Reed Smith LLP, on how the GDPR will affect M&A