The number of offshore M&A deals and IPOs across jurisdictions increased by 25 per cent in Q2 when compared to the first quarter of the year, according to a report from offshore legal and administrative services provider, Appleby.
The latest edition of Offshore-i – an Appleby report that provides data and insight on corporate transaction activity in the major offshore financial centres – focuses on deals announced during the second quarter of 2015. The quarter recorded 732 deals worth a cumulative US$94.4bn.
"When combined, the first two quarters of 2015 saw a total of $225bn spent on offshore deals, way out in front of the previous record for a first-half period," said Wendy Benjamin, Partner and Group Head of Jersey Corporate at Appleby. "Additionally, six of the last seven quarters have now announced more than 700 deals each and the drop-off that we witnessed in the number of offshore transactions in Q1 now looks to have been a blip as the market paused for breath after a strong and busy 2014."
Average deal size in the second quarter of 2015 was recorded at $129 million, a value topped only twice in the past decade. This brought the average deal value for the first half of the year to $176 million.
The report found much deeper activity levels across the value ranges in the second quarter. Twenty-one deals worth over a billion dollars each were recorded, six more than the previous record of 15 billion-dollar deals in a three-month period.
While the Cayman Islands routinely leads offshore deal activity, the jurisdiction had a particularly strong second quarter, with the number of deals up 85 per cent on the previous quarter and the value of those transactions up 103 per cent.
Hong Kong followed the Cayman Islands in terms of deal value, with 113 deals worth $25bn, and Bermuda followed Cayman in deal volume, with 127 deals worth USD13.8bn. Cayman, Bermuda, the BVI and Hong Kong saw the most transactional activity, and all of the 10 largest deals that took place involved a business incorporated in one of those jurisdictions.
The full report can be viewed here.