William Buck’s annual Dealmaking Insights report for 2024 is based on comprehensive research into Australia’s M&A, IPO, Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC) markets, covering 2023 and examining trends over the past decade to provide insights into the global state of dealmaking in 2023, and considers trends over the last ten years.
Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) transactions continued to drive Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) activity across Australia even as the volume and value of deals in the Australian and Global M&A markets decreased substantially in 2023. Transactions up to $100m accounted for 80% of all M&A deals completed in Australia in 2023, indicating the predominance of SMEs in the market.
Economic uncertainty meant there were only 31 IPOs in 2023 while Private Equity (PE) transactions also declined worldwide, including in Australia, and Venture Capital (VC) transactions experienced a 46% decrease annually.
Despite these diminishing trends, we expect activity to pick up across multiple markets in the future, particularly as foreign Private Equity and Venture Capital firms see Australia as a stable market with considerable investment opportunities.
Our findings from this report indicate that:
- ASX 200 increased by 9.1% during 2023 even as the Global M&A market declined by 18%.
- With over $25b in dry powder, Australian M&A is anticipated to flourish as foreign Private Equity and Venture Capital firms see the country as a stable market with considerable investment opportunity.
- The value of IPO transactions was the lowest in a decade as organisations opted for a take private acquisition structure
Source: WilliamBuck
