2016 GLOBAL M&A REVIEW
An extensive research report analysing the global M&A activity in the media, marketing, and related technology sectors, as well as an outlook for the sector.
Ciesco is a boutique M&A advisory firm, focusing on the media, marketing, and related technology sectors. Our team tracks all M&A activity in the sector throughout the year and publishes the key findings, along with our analysis, insights, and outlook in a report, published annually.
KEY FINDINGS
1,175 transactions announced in 2016, up 6% from 2015, marking four years of consecutive growth in M&A activity in the sector
Total disclosed value (adjusted to exclude mega-deals) was $82.6bn, up 36% from $60.7bn in 2015
There was a sharp increase in larger deals, with 3 deals over $10bn (zero last year) and 25 deals over $1bn (14 last year)
A significant rise in cross-border deals from China-based acquirers – with 20 deals up from 4 last year – including Ctrip’s $1.7bn acquisition of Skyscanner, Orient Hontai’s $1.4bn acquisition of AppLovin, and Miteno’s $900m acquisition of Media.net
Dentsu overtook WPP as the most active buyer in the sector (WPP were most active for the last 3 years). Dentsu acquired 36 companies in 2016 including the $1.5bn acquisition of Merkle, up from 26 in the previous year
Further evidence of consultancies moving into agency space – most notably with Accenture’s acquisition of creative agency Karmarama, and multiple acquisitions from IBM
A number of new emerging buyers entered the sector via acquisitions, including Globant (Argentina), Nantong (China), Tech Mahindra (India) and Stagwell (US)
OUR REPORT
For a copy of the full 46-page report, including detailed analysis on:
Deal statistics, volumes, values
Notable deals
Buyer landscape
Emerging buyers
Private equity activity
Geographic overview
Cross-border activity
Sectors
Ciesco’s outlook
Please contact future@ciesco.com to receive our report.