A total of 34,485 deals were announced globally during the first half (H1) of 2022, which is a decline of 3.1% over the 35,589 deals that were announced during H1 2021, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database reveals that the decline during H1 2022 was primarily driven by the lack of deal activity in Q2, with deal volume registering a 14.3% decrease compared to the previous quarter.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Deal-making sentiments were impacted during Q2 2022 due to the fact that all three months of the quarter registered a month-on-month decline in deal volume. This can be attributed to several factors including the rise in global inflation, geopolitical tensions and an increase in COVID-19 infections in some of the key markets.”

North America accounted for the highest share of deal activity, with more than 40% of the number of deals announced globally during H1 2022 coming from this region, followed by Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South & Central America.

However, deal activity remains a mixed bag across all the regions and key markets. Deal volume in the top two regions, North America and Europe, declined by 11.9% and 3.3%, respectively, year-on-year (YoY) in H1 2022. Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South & Central America regions witnessed an improvement in deal activity.

Deal activity also declined in several key global markets such as the US (11.7%), China (8.7%), Canada (14.2%), Germany (5.1%), and the UK (10.4%) YoY in H1 2022. Meanwhile, India, Japan, France and Australia managed to register an improvement in deal activity by 34.9%, 17.9%, 5.6% and 2.9%, respectively.

Bose adds: “All the deal types (M&A, private equity, and venture financing deals) witnessed a decline in deal volume in H1 2022 compared to H1 2021. The number of private equity, venture financing and mergers & acquisitions (M&A) deals decreased by 8.8%, 2% and 3%, respectively.”