Offshore
Offshore-Related M&A Activity Held Steady In Q2; Signs Of Greater Vigour - Appleby
Merger and acquisition activity conducted in offshore financial centres held broadly steadier in the second quarter of 2013 than in the first three months, with a total of 493 deals, up from 491, contrasting with recent volatility, research shows.
In its Offshore-I Report, Appleby, the legal, fiduciary and administration service firm shows a more stable picture for offshore M&A than in previous quarters. The report measures activity with firms registered in offshore jurisdictions.
While not strictly concerning wealth management, the report sheds light on trends of business in offshore financial centres at a time when such jurisdictions, as the Cayman Islands, Switzerland and BVI, have been under international pressure.
We feel comfortable asserting that business confidence is at last returning to the markets,” Cameron Adderly, partner and global head of the firm’s corporate and commercial department, said.
“At $64 million for the second quarter, average deal size is higher than it has been for five of the last eight years. The offshore region average is also higher than all other regions except for North America at $119 million and Central and South America at $109 million.”
“When we look at the contribution of the top 10 offshore deals to overall activity in the second quarter, we see that they accounted for just a third of the cumulative deal value overall, as they did in the first quarter. We believe that this gives further reason for optimism as values for past quarters have been distorted by one-off mega deals. We can now see genuine substance returning to the mid-market and activity returning across the spectrum of business sizes. Transaction sizes show tangible signs of settling at pre-boom levels, on a par with 2006 data, when 61 million was spent on the average transaction,” he added.
The 493 deals involving offshore targets completed with an aggregate value of 31.6 billion.
British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Bermuda produced the most offshore M&A activity, the report said. The Cayman Islands continued its first quarter lead by volume of deals done, accounting for 105 of the 493 offshore deals recorded in the second quarter, or 21 per cent.
