Nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents in a survey of Middle East and North African businesses said they would pursue merger and acquisition deals in the next 12 months.
The result was a record in the Capital Confidence Barometer survey carried out by consultancy EY.
“With the recent oil prices, a slow-growth environment and the diversification agendas of many MENA countries still more in the planning than execution stages, MENA executives understand that they need to ‘buy’ versus ‘build’ to remain competitive,” said Phil Gandier, MENA transaction advisory services leader at EY.
The consultancy said the value of deals done in the third quarter of the year increased by 23% to $4.3 billion as compared with the corresponding quarter in 2016.
However, the rise came despite the number of deals falling from 84 to 76 between the same two periods.
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