Local M&A deals rise by 11%

Thursday 21 November 2019

Jersey saw the number of local merger & acquisitions (M&A) transactions increase by 11% over the first half of 2019, according to a report from offshore law firm Appleby.

In total, the firm says Jersey recorded 90 deals in the first six months of 2019, worth a cumulative USD15.2 billion.

The report says that while total deal value was down slightly when compared to the second half of 2018, volume was up 11%.

The Crown Dependencies overall had a healthy start to the year, with the Isle of Man seeing a 64% rise in deal volume over the second half of 2018 and Guernsey recording a 4% increase in deal value over that period.

The biggest Jersey deals of the year to date have been the US$4.2 billion acquisition of Camelot Holdings (Jersey) Ltd and the US$1.9 billion acquisition of Eaton Towers Holdings Ltd, according to the latest edition of Offshore-i, an Appleby report that provides data and insight on merger and acquisition activity in the major offshore financial centres.

“Not only did Jersey see an increase in M&A activity in the first half of 2019, the island also recorded the largest average deal size of any offshore jurisdiction during that period,” said James Gaudin, a Partner in Appleby’s Corporate Department in Jersey.

"The average deal size was fuelled in large part by Jersey companies being targets in two of the largest 10 deals recorded across the offshore region in the first half of 2019.”