A total of 1,004 deals were announced globally during the week ended April, 26, 2020, which is an increase of 12.6% over 892 deals announced during the previous week, according to GlobalData’s deals database. However, deal volume remained below the Q1 2020 and March 2020 weekly average levels.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Though global deal activity remained inconsistent due to volatile market conditions since the COVID-19 outbreak, the increase in deals announced during the week may be a sign of revival and it will be interesting to see if this volume growth continues during the coming weeks.”

Deal activity increased in most of the key markets during the week ended April, 26, 2020 compared to the previous week. While the US witnessed an increase in deal volume by 7.9%, China, Japan, South Korea and Australia witnessed deal volume increasing by 2.7%, 9.4%, 65.8% and 62.1%, respectively.

Sectors such as healthcare (including pharmaceuticals and medical equipment), retail and travel & tourism also witnessed an improvement in deal activity during the week ended April, 26, 2020 compared to the previous week.

While mergers and acquisition (M&A) deals volume increased by 25.7% during the week ended April, 26, 2020 compared to the previous week, the number of partnerships and debt offerings deals increased by 76.6% and 35.7%, respectively. However, the number of private equity, venture financing, licensing agreement and equity offerings deals declined by 8.5%, 2.5%, 25.0% and 1.6%, respectively.