2017 M&A deals jump in value to $6.8bn

Over the course of 2017, the island recorded a total of 157 deals, representing $6.8bn in value.

Jersey saw an 86% rise in M&A deal value, with 129 deals worth $19.4bn.

However, the number of overall deals was down in both islands compared with the previous year.

‘Guernsey showed a significant jump in deal value over the previous year, recording more than $6bn in transactions in 2017,’ said Wendy Benjamin, group partner at Appleby (Guernsey) LLP.

‘This increase is an encouraging trend and representative of the offshore region’s overall strength over the last year.’

There were 2,771 deals targeting offshore companies in 2017 worth $227bn across major offshore financial centres, according to the latest edition of Appleby’s Offshore-i report.

This marked an increase over 2016, which saw 2,735 deals recorded at a value of $219bn.

Each deal in the offshore top 10 in 2017 was worth well over $2bn, with the largest offshore deal being the $6.8bn purchase of all the issued shares of Belle International, a Cayman Islands-incorporated footwear manufacturer listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Over the course of the year, the offshore region saw three megadeals – those valued at $5bn or more.

The Cayman Islands remained the busiest jurisdiction for offshore transactions in 2017, recording more than 800 deals. It was followed by Hong Kong (592 deals), the British Virgin Islands (505 deals) and Bermuda (402 deals).

The report also highlighted a number of factors that could impact M&A in the coming months, including US tax reforms and regulatory scrutiny, the Chinese government’s concern over outbound deals and the deployment of private equity, among others.