A total of 4,826 deals (comprising mergers & acquisitions [M&A], private equity, and venture financing deals) were announced globally during August 2021, which is a decline of 3.4% over 4,995 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 the deal volume during the month also remained lower than the monthly average of the first quarter (Q1) of 2021. However, there was an improvement when compared to the monthly average of Q2 2021.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “While it’s been a rough couple of months for deal activity, not all regions are experiencing the same subdued activity. As in the case of August, the decline was mainly driven by Europe, which witnessed a 25% decline in deal volume compared to July, while all other regions experienced growth in deal activity. This could be attributed to concerns around a surge in new cases in some of the European nations, with the World Health Organization (WHO) also expressing concerns and anticipating around 236,000 COVID-19 deaths in the region by December.”

North America continued to account for the highest share of deal activity and the deal volume for the region also increased by 2.6%, from 2,145 deals in July to 2,201 deals in August. North America is followed by Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South and Central America.

Deal activity also increased in some of the key global markets in August compared to the previous month, such as the US (by 3.9%), China (26%), Japan (13.7%), Brazil (42%), and Singapore (15%). In contrast, some of the key European markets such as the UK, Germany, and France witnessed decrease in deal activity.

Bose continues: “Some of the deal types (under coverage) also witnessed decline in deal volume in August compared to the previous month. The number of private equity and M&A deals declined by 15.7%, and 6.5%, respectively, while venture financing deals volume increased by 2.6%, in August compared to the previous month.”