Q3 M&A Activity: Fewer Deals, Bigger Dollars

LOS ANGELES-The third quarter hosted fewer mergers and acquisitions than the second quarter and fewer billion-dollar deals, but aggregate deal value still rose substantially, according to a just-released report from Mergerstat.

Only 1,669 deals were announced in the U.S. Market between July 1 and Sept. 30, compared to 1,847 announcements from April through June, according to the M&A data provider. As well, there were two fewer billion-dollar deals in the third quarter. Nonetheless, Aggregate deal value rose from $104.6 billion in the second quarter to $151 billion in the third.

The biggest third-quarter deal was Pfizer’s agreement to buy Pharmacia for $58.3 billion, followed by Qwest Communications’ $7.1-billion sale of QwestDex Publishing Business to buyout firms Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe and The Carlyle Group. In the $3-billion to $4-billion range, AOL Time Warner has agreed to pay AT&T and Comcast $3.6 billion for the 27.64% of Time Warner Entertainment it didn’t already own, IBM’s $3.5-billion deal for PwC Consulting and Guidant’s $3.0 billion agreement to purchase Cook Group.