After a slow start last year, M&A activity in 2012 picked up during the second half of 2012, bringing the total value of activity to a level just 1 percent below 2011. The continuing economic uncertainty in Europe reduced European deal volume further, although activity there showed a remarkable rebound in the fourth quarter. Deal volume in Asia declined as well. In the Americas, however, deal volume notched up, leading the global M&A market with 48 percent of volume.
Deal premiums remained high. Although global stock-market valuations recovered materially during the year, with the S&P 500 index increasing by more than 10 percent, the average premium paid by acquirers hovered around historic levels—comparable even to the average paid during the M&A boom driven by the high-tech industry at the turn of the century (Exhibit 1).
