research shows that in the first quarter of this year, global chemical industrial mergers and acquisitions were more active than the same period of last year. the industrial sector announced 293 deals, compared with 274 in 2010. during this period, eight merger and acquisition deals were valued at over one billion u.s. dollars each.
in the first quarter, 31 mergers and acquisitions in the global chemical industrial sector had been conducted at over 50 million u.s. dollars each. their gross values amounted to 41 billion u.s. dollars. both figures were far higher than the 21 deals and 23 billion u.s. dollars amounted in the same period of last year, up 48 percent and 78 percent in trade amount and value.
in the first quarter of this year, financial investors were more active in chemical industrial mergers and acquisitions. the transactions were valued at 9.2 billion u.s. dollars, 23 percent of the world’s total. in contrast, the ratio stood at only 11 percent in the first quarter of 2010. regionally, north america had 12 cases of mergers and acquisitions, with more than 50 million u.s. dollars in each deal, in the first quarter. they were valued at 21.1 billion u.s. dollars, including six deals within north america, three deals by overseas investors, and three deals done by north american investors. meanwhile, asia-pacific was the top buyer with 17 bulk chemical industrial mergers and acquisitions, valued at 10.6 billion u.s. dollars.
in the first quarter, china continued to be active in mergers and acquisitions in the chemical industrial sector. it completed 6 billion u.s. dollars worth of transactions, including 3.8 billion u.s. dollars overseas mergers and acquisitions and 1.9 billion u.s. dollars domestic deals. during the period, china realized moderate growth in mergers and acquisitions in the chemical industrial sector, compared with the same period of 2010. it made marked progress in overseas deals. this trend is expected to continue in 2011.
