In 2022, for the eleventh consecutive year, PwC has once again led the financial advisory market for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Spain by number of. This is confirmed by the main annual rankings prepared by Refinitiv, Dealogic, Bloomberg and TTR and collected by the firm, as well as by Europa Press.
According to Refinitiv, PwC has advised a total of 130 operations and has been ahead of KPMG (55), Deloitte (41), BDO (36) EY (33), Rothschild (27), You Are Capital (26), Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (20) and Arcano (20). In the ranking by value, PwC is among the top ten advisors with a combined value of 7,730 million euros at the current exchange rate.
The Dealogic ranking also reflects the leadership of PwC, which has advised a total of 95 operations, 74 for Deloitte, 35 for EY, 25 for KPMG, 21 for Santander Corporate & Investment Banking and 20 for Arcano. and Rothschilds, respectively.
Leader also in Europe, the Middle East and Africa
Additionally, both Bloomberg and TTR also include PwC in their annual rankings as the most active financial adviser in the transaction market in Spain in the year that has just closed, with 109 and 120 operations advised, respectively. In 2022, PwC has not only led the transaction advisory market in Spain, but has also done the same in the world and in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to the data collected by these rankings.
In this way, PwC is positioned as the leader in the global M&A market with 814 in Refinitiv operations (compared to KPMG’s 586) and a joint value of 47,365 million dollars (44,606 million euros at current exchange rates). It also leads the M&A market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa with 515 transactions. In Bloomberg, PwC leads the world ranking with 731 and operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa with 510.
Pre-pandemic levels exceeded
In 2022, the transaction market in Spain reached 66,471 million euros, at the current change in the 1,767 announced operations that were carried out, 10% more than those carried out in 2021, according to Refinitiv. However, in value, the mergers and acquisitions market in Spain has registered a decrease of 29% due to a lower number of ‘megadeals’ compared to the previous year.
For Malcolm Lloyd, partner responsible for Deals at PwC in the world and also for Spain, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, “2022 has not been an easy year due to the macroeconomic environment that surrounds us. However, the market has been able to adapt to the This is undoubtedly good news and makes us optimistic for the coming months.”
According to Lloyd, there will be more activity in the ‘public-to-private’ segment of operations, taking advantage of the lower valuations of listed companies, and we must not forget the liquidity available from private equity funds, still at record levels. .
In addition, it stands out that in Spain there is a medium segment of the market with very attractive companies, with growth potential and highly qualified management teams. He also predicts that there will continue to be great activity in the development of ‘build ups/add ons’ as ways of growth and value creation for the portfolios of private equity funds.
Lastly, it also foresees greater M&A activity in companies with an unsustainable debt situation: sale of businesses or productive units, balance sheet restructuring and entry of new capital and debt funds.
