Fresh data from Thomson Reuters yesterday served to underscore the steep fall off in local merger and acquisition activity in the past year.
The publishing group's quarterly survey of worldwide M&A activity found the value of deals announced in New Zealand in the March quarter fell 84.7 per cent to US$76.1 million ($132 million) when compared with the same period a year earlier. The number of transactions fell from 59 last year to 25.
The Thomson Reuters numbers are broadly consistent with data from Ernst & Young and the NZ Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (NZVCA) last week which found total private equity and venture capital investment in 2008 was just $178.1 million, compared with $1.2 billion during 2007, a fall of about 85 per cent.
Thomson Reuters found worldwide first quarter M&A deals were worth US$472.7 billion, a fall of 29.3 per cent on a year earlier and the lowest absolute level since 2004.
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