Sunday, January 1, 2017

Corporate makeovers drive corporate takeovers in 2016 M&A bonanza

A man walks past the AT&T store in New York's Times Square. Photo: Reuters

A telecommunications carrier seeks to become a TV network and movie studio owner. A major software company acquires one of the world's largest social networks. A smartphone maker snaps up a manufacturer of internet-connected audio speakers for cars. In 2016, mega deals became ever more transformative. A drive by some of the world's largest corporations to find new avenues to expand in the face of anaemic economic growth led to major acquisitions in areas adjacent to their core business. This helped make 2016 the third-biggest year on record for mergers and acquisitions (M&A), trailing only 2015 and 2007. "Companies are reinventing themselves, looking at their business in a new way with regard to how can they be a disrupter, and how they can prevent being disrupted – and this opens up deal flow," said Chris Ventresca, global co-head of M&A at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Among these transformative deals was this year's biggest – US telecommunications company AT&T Inc's $85.4 billion (€81.68 billion) agreement to acquire media company Time Warner Inc, the parent of CNN, TNT, HBO and the Warner Bros movie studio. Other such deals included software behemoth Microsoft Corp's $26.2 billion...

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