A total of 5,401 deals were announced globally during December 2020, which is a decrease of 0.8% over 5,443 deals announced during the previous month, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database revealed that deal volume during the month also remained below the monthly average of the third quarter of 2020.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Global deal activity, which showcased improvement during the initial months of H2 2020, declined again in October, and December is the third consecutive month of decline in deal volume. The decline could be attributed to fears of a second wave of COVID-19 in some of the key markets, while the new virus strain is further adding to the uncertainties.”

The uncertain market conditions lowered the deal volume in December for major markets such as the UK (by 7.3%), Japan (19.7%), Canada (22%), Australia (25%), India (25.2%), and South Korea (43.5%) compared to the previous month. On the contrary, Germany, the US, Sweden, and China witnessed a growth of 25.2%, 16.9%, 9.7%, and 2.6% in deal volume, respectively.

North America continued to attract the highest number of investments followed by Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and South and Central America.

Deal types such as partnership, equity offerings and debt offerings also experienced deal volume decreasing by 12.8%, 44.5%, 60.5% in December compared to the previous month, respectively, while the number of licensing agreements, private equity, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and venture financing deals increased by 32.1%, 28.5%, 23.3%, and 23.0%, respectively.