As of the end of last week, a flurry of deal making in the United States pushed February M&A levels to $147.9 billion with nearly two weeks remaining, a 15% increase over the entire month of January 2013. Year-to-date, M&A activity totals $278.9 billion, an increase of 18% compared to the same time last year. US M&A, which has more than doubled compared to the year ago period, accounted for 57% of global deal making so far this year. Today’s graphic tracks the number of deals and total weekly value of worldwide M&A activity over the last year.

The following are some highlights from the Q1 Emerging Markets M&A Review. For more information, follow@DealIntel on twitter.

 

Highlights:

• Emerging Markets M&A announced in the first three months of 2012 accounted for 27.5% of global activity and reached US$132.5 billion, representing a 32.9% decrease compared to the same period in 2011 and a 19.3% drop compared to the previous quarter.
• The most targeted Emerging Market nation so far this year was China, with 674 deals worth a combined US$31.3 billion. Brazil and India followed, with US$21.2 billion and US$10.6 billion of activity, respectively.
• Materials was the most active sector during the year accounting for 18% of Emerging Market volumes with US$24.4 billion in deal activity, closely followed by Financials with US$23.8 billion.
• Estimated fees earned from completed Emerging Market M&A deals during the first quarter of 2012 totaled US$1 billion, a decrease of 37.3% compared to 2011, according to Thomson Reuters/Freeman Consulting.

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The following are some highlights from the Q1 Debt Capital Markets Review. For more information, follow@DealIntel on twitter.

 

Global Debt Capital Markets Slightly Above 2011 Levels

Overall global debt capital markets activity totaled US$1.7 trillion during the first quarter of 2012, a 0.2% increase from the comparable period in 2011. Strengthened by a resurgent corporate debt market, first quarter global debt activity increased 69% compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 and marks the largest quarter for debt capital markets activity since the first quarter of 2009.

Global High Yield Debt Nearly Triples From Q4 2011

The volume of global corporate high yield debt reached US$106.7 billion during the first quarter of 2012, a decrease of 2% compared to the first quarter of 2011, but registered a triple-digit percentage increase from the fourth quarter of 2011.

Financials Account for 50% of First Quarter 2012 DCM Activity

Debt capital markets activity in the financials sector totaled $833.6 billion during the first quarter of 2012, accounting for 50% of all new issues this year.

Largest Quarter for Emerging Markets Corporate Debt on Record

New issuance of corporate debt from emerging markets issuers totaled US$113 billion during the first quarter of 2012, up 13% increase over 2011 levels and breaking all-time quarterly issuance records. Activity was led by issuers from Brazil, Russia, India and Mexico, which account for 53% of all emerging markets corporate debt this year.

JP Morgan Tops Global Debt League Tables

Bolstered by strength in global investment grade and high yield corporate debt underwriting, JP Morgan took the top spot for the first quarter of 2012 with total proceeds of $130.1 billion and an increase of 0.8 market share points. Deutsche Bank retained the number two spot during the quarter, with 7.1% market share, while Barclays fell to third place with a one-point market share decline compared to the first quarter of 2011.

7% Increase for Debt Underwriting Fees

According to Thomson Reuters/Freeman Consulting, estimated fees from debt capital markets activity totaled US$5.6 billion during the first quarter of 2012, up 7% from the first quarter of 2011 and up 87% from the fourth quarter of last year.

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The following are some highlights from the Q1 Global Equity Capital Markets Review. For more information, follow @DealIntelon twitter.

 

Global ECM Activity Down 26%: Slowest Opening Quarter Since 2009

Equity capital markets activity totaled US$150.2 billion during the first quarter of 2012, a 26% decline from the comparable period in 2011. Despite a 57% increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2011, this marks the slowest opening quarter for global equity capital markets activity since the first quarter of 2009 when volume totaled US$71.8 billion.

Follow-Ons Down 11%

Global follow-on offerings totaled US$116.7 billion during the first quarter of 2012, a 11% decrease compared to first quarter 2011. Issuers from the United States accounted for 36% of all followon activity during first quarter 2012, compared to 34% last year.

IPOs Down 61% From 2011

Global IPO volume totaled US$17.4 billion during the first quarter of 2012, a decrease of 61% compared to the same time last year when issuance totaled US$44.4 billion. High technology, industrials and media and entertainment accounted for 55% of IPO activity during the quarter, up from 35% during the first quarter of 2011.

United States Issuers Account For 34%

Issuers from the United States raised US$50.7 billion in the global equity capital markets during the first quarter of 2012, down 28% compared to last year at this time.

Four Sectors Account For Two-Thirds of Activity

Led by financial issuers (29%), the overall volume of equity capital markets activity remained highly concentrated among four main sectors including energy & power (17%), industrials (11%) and real estate (11%).

Citi Tops Overall ECM Ranking; JP Morgan Leads Fees

With an increase of 3.6 market share points, Citi led all equity capital markets underwriters during the first quarter of 2012 with US$14.3 billion in proceeds from 76 issues, up from sixth place last year. JP Morgan, which moved to third place by proceeds raised this quarter, led all underwriters by fees with US$286.0 million, or 8.1% of the equity capital markets fee pool this quarter.

ECM Fees Down 34%

According to estimates from Freeman Consulting, fees from equity capital markets transactions during the first quarter of 2012 totaled US$3.5 billion, a 34% decrease from this time last year, but a 27% increase from the fourth quarter of 2011.

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Check out the latest Deals Insight, which provides context around Google’s $8.8 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

Key highlights:

• Google’s $8.8 billion* acquisition of Motorola Mobility brings the value of worldwide high technology M&A to $125.7 billion, the strongest year for M&A in the sector since 2007.
• The acquisition of Motorola is the largest M&A deal in Google’s history, besting the acquisition of DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in 2007.  The deal marks the second largest M&A transaction involving tech companies announced this year, behind Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype in May 2011.
• Qatalyst Partners, an advisor to Motorola Mobility, along with Centerview Partners, ranks fifth for worldwide  tech M&A this year, with $18.6 billion from four deals.  Today’s deal ranks as the biggest advisory role for Qatalyst Partners on record.
• The volume of worldwide M&A totals $1.8 trillion for year-to-date 2011, a 31% increase over last year at this time.  US target M&A totals $775.4 billion , up 76% from year-to-date 2010.   Monthly M&A activity through the August 15th, totals $83.9 billion.
• Today’s US deal activity, which totals $12.3 billion, ranks as the biggest “Merger Monday”  in the United States since April 4th when Texas Instruments acquired National Semiconductor and KKR acquired Capsugel.

* Google/Motorola excludes Motorola’s cash holdings

For more information throughout the week follow @Dealintel on Twitter.