Aurojyoti Bose, lead analyst, GlobalData, commented, “Deal activity remained a mixed bag across different regions and countries, with some of them experiencing a fall in deal volume, while others showcasing improvement. And the same was the case with the deal types under coverage as well.”

A significant part of the decline was driven by North America, which saw its deal volume fall by 30.9 percent during January-July of the current year compared to January-July 2023. Asia-Pacific and South and Central American regions also showcased YoY decline of 16.3 percent and 42.9 percent in deal volume during January-July 2024, respectively.

However, Europe saw YoY improvement in deal volume by 16.8 percent during the review period as some of the key markets in the region witnessed growth in the number of deals, whereas deal volume for the Middle East and Africa mostly remained at the same level.

Meanwhile, key markets including the US, South Korea, China, Australia, and France witnessed a 30.4 percent, 5.6 percent, 50 percent, 27.8 percent and 45 percent decline in deal volume during January-July 2024 compared to the same period in the previous year. However, markets such as the UK, India, Japan, Spain, and Germany experienced improvement in deal volume during the review period.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Deals Database also revealed that the volume of M&A deals declined by 6.6 percent during January-July 2024 compared to January-July 2023, whereas the number of venture financing deals fell by 25.4 percent YoY. Meanwhile, the deal volume for private equity deals improved by 21.4 percent.