Mexican M&A activity from January to November resulted in 265 deals, 2.2% fewer than in the same period of 2016, reflecting the uncertain investment environment surrounding US­Mexico trade policy and, increasingly, concerns over Mexico's July 2018 elections.

The data, announced by M&A research firm Transactional Track Record (TTR), indicated disclosed deal values for 125 of these transactions totaled US$16.96bn, down 40.1% year­on­year, an even stronger sign that businesses adopted a wait­and­see attitude in 2017.

Slower M&A activity was more evident in November, which generated only 21 deals, 25% fewer than in November 2016, where 11 of these reported values totaling US$1.79bn, down 76% year­on­year.

TTR added that 92 of the 125 operations disclosing values involved less than US$100mn. Meanwhile, 23 were mid­market (valued between US$100mn and US$500mn), and 10 were valued at more than US$500mn.

The real estate industry produced 50 deals from January to November, the most of any sector, followed by finance and insurance, which generated 36 operations. There were 24 deals in the packaged food industry, while the Internet sector generated 21 transactions.

Cross­border activity

Outbound deals from Mexico in January­November largely targeted the US and Colombia, resulting in 15 and 8 deals, respectively, where disclosed outbound deals to the US stood out amounting to US$2.64bn.

Firms from the US, Spain and the UK demonstrated the strongest interest in targeting Mexican properties in the period, closing 36, 17 and 8 operations from the respective territories. In terms of disclosed capital movement, the largest inbound deal totals came from Canada (US$1.84bn) and the US (US$1.37bn).

Venture capital and private equity

TTR reported there have been 33 private equity deals in 2017 through November, 11 of which reported values totaling US$2.64bn. This represents a 32% increase in the number of such operations year­on­year, despite a 10% drop in disclosed values.

Venture capital activity has been one of the bright spots for Mexico this year. TTR said there have been 45 VC deals through November, 25% more than in the first 11 months of 2016. Eleven of these deals disclosed values totaling US$367m, a 103% increase y­o­y.

Looking at capital markets, TTR noted there have been six IPOs in 2017, and firms have tapped capital markets twice, where the IPOs raised US$2.58bn in capital, and the expansions amounted to US$259mn.

Source: Business News Americas / BN Americas - Chile