Peru recorded $734 million in investment, of the total number of deal values disclosed, during the first eight months of the year, a 72-per cent drop on the same period of last year, while the number of deals dropped by 47 per cent to 49, according to the August regional report by Transactional Track Record (TTR). 

Deals included both M&As and private equity and venture capital investments.

Peru saw the largest proportion of cross-border deals during the period however, with 37 out of a total of 49 deals, followed by Argentina, with 63 out of a total of 85 deals, and Colombia which saw 66 cross-border deals out of a total 89.

In terms of deal value, the second-sharpest drop was suffered by Chile, which saw a year-do-date 57-per cent drop to $2.67 billion compared with the same period of last year, followed by Colombia, which saw a 53-per cent drop to $3.52 billion, while both Argentina and Brazil saw deal values drop by 51 per cent. Argentina's year-to-date total was $1.38 billion, while Brazil's was $21.3 billion.

The slump in activity was to be expected given the adverse global economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many countries imposing lockdowns from March until June, and with several countries in Latin America, namely Chile, Colombia and Peru, remaining in partial lockdown until early September. Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia have yet to fully reopen, and Brazil has become the world's second-most affected country by the virus in terms of death toll and the number of infections, after the US.

The number of deals carried out in Chile has dropped by 33 per cent so far this year to 117, Colombia's total is down 41 per cent to 89, while Brazil saw a 16-per cent drop to 792 and Argentina a 26-per cent drop to 85. Mexico saw the volume of deals drop by 12 per cent to 183, while deal values were down 41 per cent to $5.2 billion, according to TTR.

 

Source: Iberian Lawyer - Spain