M&A activity across Latin America remained soft in October with the region recording 135 M&A operations, 59 of which had total reported deal value of US$5.29bn, according M&A research firm Transactional Track Record (TTR), in collaboration with Ontier.

The results reflect 30.1% fewer transactions than October 2017, as well as a 47.2% drop in disclosed deal value.

Looking at activity in the first 10 months of the year, TTR recorded 1,700 transactions in the region, of which 721 reported deal value totaling US$81.5bn. This represents 6.95% fewer transactions and a 19.5% decline in deal value.

The following table offers a ranking of M&A activity individual countries over the first 10 months of 2018.

As indicated in the table, Brazil is by far the most active market for M&A activity; however, the overall trend for Latin America is a broad reduction in the number of operations, except for Mexico where there has been a 6% increase.

Mexico's 10­month result is supported by a fairly strong Q1 but activity has steadily weakened since, hurt in part by the July 1 general election and uncertainty related to the change in government.

Mexico had the strongest decline in reported deal value of any of the listed nations, falling 51% yearon­year.

Cross­border activity

Latin American firms have been directing outbound deals this year towards North American and Europe, closing four and three deals, respectively.

Investor appetite with inbound deals primarily came from North American, European and Asian firms, carrying out 22, 10 and 2 inbound operations, respectively.

Private equity and VC

TTR recorded 135 private equity operations in Latin America from January to October, 55 of which reported a total of US$12.6bn in capital raised. This reflected 9% fewer operations and 25% less capital moved compared to the same period 2017.

Venture capital deals, conversely, have shown a sizeable growth in activity. TTR said that 267 VC deals took place from January to October with 169 reporting combined deal value of US$2.04bn, a 9% y­o­y increase in the number of operations and a 72% y­o­y jump in capital raised.

Source: Business News Americas / BN Americas - Chile