Global IPOs, Deal Making Worldwide Down Sharply in Q3

The biggest corporate merger of the year happened in Q3, but otherwise, there's been a slowdown in deal making.

Author:: Rhonda Schaffler
Publish date:: Oct 3, 2016 11:07 AM EDT

The value of announced corporate mergers and acquisitions totaled more than $2 trillion through the third quarter, but that's still down 24% from 2015 levels, according to preliminary data from Thomson Reuters. Matthew Toole, Director for Deals Intelligence at Thomson Reuters, says cross-border activity remains strong, but deals that are getting down are smaller. However, the biggest deal of the year did happen in Q3, with Bayer AG's $66 billion takeover of Monsanto. Interestingly, the number of withdrawn deals was at the highest level since 2010. Toole blamed that on concerns for regulatory approvals. Data also shows that proceeds from global IPOs fell to the lowest level since the financial crisis, down 46% from a year ago. The number of new stock offerings fell 24%. All of this is bad news for bankers, as global banking investment fees have fallen 15% from 2015 levels. TheStreet's Rhonda Schaffler has details from Wall Street.