A new report by Clyde & Co found that the level of global insurance industry mergers and acquisitions (M&A) has increased considerably in recent times.
According to Clyde & Co’s Insurance Growth Report, there were 222 completed M&A deals worldwide in the first half of 2019 up from 196 in the second half of 2018. This represents a 13% increase in M&A deals – the highest increase in the volume of transactions since the first half of 2015. The figure also represents the fourth consecutive six-month period of M&A growth.
While the report found that the Americas was the most active region for M&A, with 93 recorded deals, it was Europe that reported the biggest increase in M&A activity – a 40% increase in M&A with 88 completed deals in H1 2019 compared to 64 in H2 2018. Of the European countries, France was leading in terms of insurance M&A activity and the second most active worldwide just behind the US. France is then followed by the UK and Spain.
The Asia Pacific region also saw growth with 38 insurance M&A deals recorded for the first half of 2019, marking the fourth straight period of rising deal volume to the highest level since 2015, Clyde & Co noted. Japan was leading the region in terms of deals made, followed by Australia and India.
“Despite recent signs of market hardening, delivering a positive result for shareholders remains challenging and M&A is an attractive strategy to deliver growth for re/insurance businesses around the world,” said Clyde & Co partner and European head of the corporate insurance group Ivor Edwards.
Clyde & Co’s report also provided several insights into the key trends and drivers of global insurance M&A activity:
Clyde & Co also gave its outlook for M&A activity, which varies per region: