Last week we brought you UK merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, up next is North America. Encompassing both the United States of America and Canada, mergers refer to an agreement that unites two existing companies into one new company, where as an acquisition is a corporate action in which one company purchases most or all of another company’s shares to gain control of that company.

As is probably assumed, M&A activity in North America declined as a result of the Pandemic. Conversely to the UK, where deals fell yet the value increased, North America was not so lucky. In North America, the number of deals fell by almost 16% and the value fell by 21%. In fact, 2019-2020 saw the lowest value of deals since 2013 and was the highest year on year decline since 2008, remembering the 2007-2008 recession. Further, there was not great industry success either, with the Media sector, Pharma, Medical and Biotech and Financial Services all seeing M&A activity decline by 59%, 27.6% and 21% respectively.

Not a great year for North America M&A activity, but it’s not all doom and gloom. Realpage Inc was acquired by Thoma Bravo in 2020 and was the largest buyout of the year at $9.5Bn and the Technology and Telecommunications sectors saved the day, reporting an increased value of deals of 57%.

Although 2019-2020 was not the greatest year in terms of M&A activity, it gives rise to the potential of opportunity for 2020-2021.

Mergers and acquisition transactions require confidential and secure platforms for respective parties to collaborate and share data regarding the deal. Can you ensure your current data management software is secure enough for your M&A needs? Ruby Datum is a first in service Virtual Data Room, making data management secure, fast and easy. Developed to OWASP standards, Ruby Datum holds ISO27001, ISO9001 and Cyber Essentials compliance certificates. Ruby Datum goes even further with advanced encryption, two-factor authentication (including hardware based) and rigorously tested by a CREST accredited company.

To read about UK M&A activity, click here.

Contact Ruby Datum today for your Virtual Data Room M&A needs.