Issue 9 2019

74 Acquisition International - Issue 9 2019 August was a quiet month in terms of the volume and value of deals targeting companies in the energy, environmental and cleantech sector, according to Zephyr, the M&A database published by Bureau van Dijk. In all, there were 231 such deals worth a combined USD 14,287 million announced during the period under review, compared to July 2019’s USD 38,443 million across 291 deals. n terms of volume, August’s result represents the lowest since August 2016, when 210 deals were signed off, while the last time value plumbed such depths was slightly more recent (September 2017: USD 11,826 million). The overall decline recorded during August means it is unsurprising to note that none of the year’s 25 largest deals to date were announced during the month under review. August’s largest deal was worth USD 1,986 million and took the form of a minority stake investment as Bilbao Offshore Holding picked up a 40 per cent shareholding in UK wind farm operator East Anglia One. This deal just missed out on the top 25 for the year to date, being the 26th-largest targeting a company in the sector to have been announced worldwide in 2019. This was followed by a USD 1,727 million acquisition of natural gas processor Kinder Morgan Canada by Pembina Pipeline. In all, four deals targeting energy, environmental and cleantech companies broke the USD 1,000 million-barrier in August. The other two companies targeted in these transactions were US-based Kinder Morgan Cochin and German wind farm operator Ocean Breeze Energy, in deals worth USD 1,546 million and USD 1,120 million, respectively. In terms of the regions being targeted within the sector, North America topped the rankings by value in bothQ2 andQ3 2019. InQ2, companies based in the region were targeted in deals worth a combined USD 139,500 million, while Q3’s figure is USD 13,839 million, although it is worth noting there is still a month to go until the end of the quarter at the time of writing. Other regions to have placed highly by value during Q3 to date include Western Europe, which placed second with USD 13,024 million, followed by the Far East and Central Asia (USD 11,678 million). The latter actually topped the rankings by volume, having been targeted in 187 deals, while Western Europe was next with 137 and North America came third with 76. Despite this, the region’s high placing by value is unsurprising given that countries based there were targeted in six of the quarter to date’s top 20 deals by value. To sum up, Q3 2019 to date has so far been fairly quiet in terms of dealmaking targeting the energy, environmental and cleantech sector. However, it is worth noting that this is consistent with total global M&A volume and value over the timeframe. So far in Q3, there have been 13,320 deals worth a combined USD 638,846 million targeting companies across all sectors worldwide. Only time will tell if sufficient levels of dealmaking will occur to enable the figures to come closer to those of Q1 and Q2 by the time the quarter comes to an end in around one month’s time. Company: Bureau van Dijk E-Mail: bvd@bvdinfo.com Web: www.bvdinfo.com Energy, Environmental and Cleantech I “...the region’s high placing by value is unsurprising given that countries based there were targeted in six of the quarter to date’s top 20 deals by value.”