Swiss M&A deals dropped in Q3

The Swiss market mergers and acquisitions declined in Q3 2016. Compared to Q2, the number of transactions increased from 107 to 80 while the volume fell to $9.3 billion from $22.2 billion.

If compared with the same period last year, which had been strongly influenced by the $28.3 billion-deal,  US Chubb's acquisition by Zurich-based american insurer ACE, the volume of transactions fell by 32.2 billion, KPMG writes in a statement released yesterday.

The observed decline in the third quarter reflects in particular the absence of transactions for more than $ 10 billion, KPMG points out, adding that the acquisition in July of the french Real Estate Foncia Groupe by Zugo-based Partners Group holding company for $2.08 billion represented the biggest trade in the third quarter of 2016.

Partners Group, particularly active since the beginning of the year on mergers and acquisitions, has made a second transaction ever in the third quarter, investing $284 million in wind farm German Merkur Offshore, last August.

According to KPMG analysis, agreements, during the period July-September, focused on Western Europe: more than half have been concluded between a Swiss buyer or seller and an enterprise of a western country of the Old Continent. The North American and Asian markets ranked the second, (21%) and third place (16%).