(Bloomberg) -- European deals are finally starting to show signs of life, with more than $10 billion of takeovers announced at the start of this week.
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Italian drilling specialist Saipem SpA led the charge, saying over the weekend it plans to combine with Subsea 7 SA in a transaction valuing the Oslo-listed firm at €4.65 billion ($4.9 billion). Tech investor Prosus NV then announced Monday it will buy food delivery group Just Eat Takeaway.com NV for €4.1 billion. In the UK, National Grid Plc said it will sell a renewables business to Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. for $1.7 billion.
The flurry of European transactions comes after a sluggish start to the year for deals around the world, with the volume of global mergers and acquisitions down around 23% to $387 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“UK and European companies are increasingly conscious of the comparisons being made by the market with their American peers, many of whom trade at higher multiples,” said Ziyad Nassif, a partner at Freshfields LLP in London. “We can expect to see more corporate activity in the short to medium term.”
The moves were rounded out by activity coming from the Middle East. Saudi state-owned food trading firm Salic agreed Sunday to buy a controlling stake in the $4 billion agribusiness unit of Olam Group Ltd. An arm of the Saudi sovereign fund said Monday it will buy a 15% stake in Germany’s TK Elevator. Meanwhile, UK engineering firm John Wood Group Plc said it had received a fresh takeover approach from family-owned engineering group Sidara.
The deals come despite lingering uncertainties ranging from the ongoing war in Ukraine to potential US tariffs on the European Union. The weak economic outlook in Germany and France have also been weighing on sentiment.
“Companies have seemingly held back on deals over the past couple of years in the face of macro headwinds and geopolitical volatility, but are now coming to the realization that these are here to stay,” Nassif said. “We are already seeing more activity this year.”
European firms have been looking at ambitious deals to remain competitive with US rivals. That need spurred Swiss product-testing firm SGS SA to pursue now-aborted merger discussions with French peer Bureau Veritas SA.