The 2007 edition of the PricewaterhouseCoopers review of financial services deal activity in Europe analyses the deals and trends in the financial services sector across Europe in 2006 and provides insight into some of the factors that may shape European financial services M&A going forward.
Some of the key findings in our report include:
- In 2006, European FS deal activity increased strongly for the fourth year in a row with total deals announced reaching € 137bn ( in value terms), an increase of 77% on 2005 levels;
- With a total value of €76bn, domestic activity was up almost 200% on 2005 levels representing 56% of overall transactions (by value);
- Cross border deals also increased by a more moderate 17% from already high levels;
- Banking was once again the most active financial services sector, increasing by 109% on 2005 levels to almost €99bn and accounting for 72% of all deals (by value);
- In the insurance sector total M&A activity reached €25bn, representing a healthy increase of 34% on the previous year;
- The asset management sector saw activity drop 73% to less than €2bn;
- From a geographical point of view Italy was, as expected, the busiest country by far for European FS M&A, accounting for almost half the total activity and five of the top ten deals by value.
