After a challenging year where M&A activity in the Middle East and North Africa took a tumble, Morgan Stanley forecasts 2025 will witness a significant “structural upswing” in transaction volume and value size, bolstered by policy shifts and regulatory reforms in the region, Zawya reports
According to a new LSEG report, the investment bank ranked as the leading M&A financial advisor in MENA last year. In 2024, it advised on nine deals with a combined value of US$31.8 billion. Rothschild & Co. and Goldman Sachs rounded out the top three with US$22.7 billion and US$19.54 billion, respectively.
According to LSEG data, last year saw a total of 1,111 M&A transactions with exposure to the MENA region, accounting to a total of US$75 billion in value. While this indicated a 4 percent drop compared to 2023, the number of deals increased by 1 percent.
The LSEG ‘Investment Banking Activity in MENA 2024’ report listed state oil giant ADNOC’s US$17.6 billion takeover offer for German chemicals company Covestro as the biggest deal of last year.
Other high-profile MENA deals the bank was involved with in 2024 included advising Alat, the Saudi Public Investment Fund unit, in its USUS$2 billion investment in Lenovo, followed by the acquisition of the Dubai-based payments provider Network International by Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management in a deal valued at $2.8 billion.
Inbound deals
LSEG data further revealed that inbound deals involving a non-MENA acquiror increased 49 percent in value to a three-year high of US$14.2 billion, while MENA outbound M&A transactions totaled US$40.2 billion, indicating a 3 percent decline from year ago levels.
The LSEG report noted industrials as the most active sector, accounting for 27 percent of MENA target M&A in 2024, followed by materials and the financial sector.