Merger Market is out with its “Global Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) 2013” report. Thanks to some mega deals, global mergers & acquisitions (M&A) activity in TMT sector surged a staggering 54.1% over 2012 to $510.3 billion in 2013. The technology, media and telecom industry had seen deals worth $331.1 billion in 2012.
There were 14 mega deals last year, with a deal value of more than $5 billion. The report said that the M&A value in 2013 was the highest since 2006, when more than $603 billion worth of deals took place. Unsurprisingly, Vodafone Group Plc (NASDAQ:VOD) (LON:VOD)’s sale of its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to its majority partner was the biggest deal of the year. The $124.1 billion stake sale alone accounted for 24.3% of the total mergers & acquisitions in 2013. Without this deal, the technology, media and telecom deals would have been at $386.2 billion.
TMT mergers & acquisitions surpass energy, mining sector
2013 really seems to have been a great year for TMT mergers & acquisitions. For the first time since 2006, TMT deals surpassed the energy, mining and utility sector, which witnessed deals worth $426.7 billion. Overall, global mergers & acquisitions activity reached $2,216.4 billion in 2013. Every subsector had a healthy M&A activity, but deals were particularly strong in the telecom market ($251.9 billion), particularly due to the Verizon Wireless deal.
Mergers & acquisitions (M&A) in the technology market increased 22.3% to $166.3 billion. Meanwhile, media M&A deals rose 27.8% to $92.1 billion. Deals in media market were driven by European and U.S. broadcast companies that are facing intense competition from online services. North America saw a 70.4% rise in mergers and acquisitions to $301.9 billion in 2013. In contrast, TMT deals in Asia skidded 20.5% from 2012 to $57.3 billion.
Top five TMT mergers & acquisitions of 2013
Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) (LON:VOD)’s stake sale in Verizon Wireless was the biggest deal of the year, and third biggest of all time with a deal value of $124.1 billion. John Malone-led Liberty Global Inc (NASDAQ:LBTYA) (NASDAQ:LBTYB)’s acquisition of Virgin Media Inc (NASDAQ:VMED) for $25 billion was the second biggest TMT deal of the year. It was followed by a $20.2 billion deal for Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), in which Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners took the computer maker private. The fourth biggest deal of the year was the acquisition of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC) by Publicis Groupe SA (ADR) (OTCMKTS:PUBGY) (EPA:PUB) for $19.4 billion. In February 2013, Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) purchased 49% stake in NBCUniversal Media for $16.7 billion, making it the fifth largest deal in TMT sector last year.
