Member Article

Although the start of 2020 also shook up the M&A world, the market recovered especially in the second half of the year. At Van Doorne, the M&A specialists experienced this in the number of transactions: 32 of them. This puts the firm in 8th place in the Mergermarket Benelux League Table, based on the number of deals.

In 2020, in Europe almost $850 billion was spent on a total of 6,658 transactions. This is an increase of 5.6% compared to 2019. According to Mergermarket, there is careful optimism for 2021 among M&A advisors worldwide, partly due to developments involving vaccines and the return to a normal life. 

Tech M&A as a driving force

Looking at Mergermarket's report, it is striking that 24.1% of European transactions took place in the technology sector. That's a significant increase from the previous year, when the share was 18.1%. The fact that the Tech M&A market is on the rise was also noticed by Van Doorne in 2020 and it responded to this early on by appointing partner Meltem Koning and three talented associates. At the time, managing partner Saskia Laseur said she was delighted with this expansion of the corporate law team: "Our expectation is that Tech M&A will be an important driving force for transactions in various sectors and in this way we are even better equipped to provide our clients with expert and multidisciplinary advice." 

She was joined in this by Meltem Koning: "Although the COVID crisis has reduced activity in the M&A market, technology companies in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe are likely to remain in demand by (venture) investors. The number of technology-driven deals has been increasing over the years and remains a very important part of the investment market. Investments in innovative companies remain interesting both for strategic (corporate) buyers and financial sponsors, mainly private equity or venture capital firms, especially as they are long-term investments in companies that provide innovation and cost savings. This is also the case during a global pandemic." 

Read the full report

Please refer to the full report from Mergermarket. To do so, please click on this link.