Total technology industry mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals in Q4 2020 worth US$243.37bn were announced globally, according to GlobalData’s deals database.

The value marked an increase of 12.5% over the previous quarter and a rise of 107% when compared with the last four-quarter average, which stood at US$117.63bn.

According to GlobalData, comparing deals value in different regions of the globe, North America held the top position, with total announced deals in the period worth US$121.92bn. At the country level, the US topped the list in terms of deal value at US$117.97bn.

“In terms of volumes, North America emerged as the top region for technology industry M&A deals globally, followed by Europe and then Asia-Pacific. The top country in terms of M&A deals activity in Q4 2020 was the US with 680 deals, followed by the UK with 159 and China with 115. In 2020, as of the end of Q4 2020, technology M&A deals worth $634.11bn were announced globally, marking an increase of 91.8% year on year,” GlobalData stated.

In January 2021, ITWeb reported that based on the Africa Investment Report 2020, compiled by UK research company Briter Bridges, the estimated value of the disclosed M&A market in Africa was US$1.12-bn in 2020, and Fintech start-ups account for over nine-tenths of total M&A volumes.

ITWeb quoted Dario Giuliani, director of Briter Bridges as saying: “As markets keep growing steadily, propelled by an increasing interest from investors, corporates, academia and public institutions, the diversity and energy which have been defining Africa’s innovative ecosystems throughout the 2010s seem to suggest that a gradual path to sophistication and maturity is laid ahead.”

GlobalData adds that the top five technology industry M&A deals accounted for 52.9% of the overall value during Q4 2020.

The combined value of the top five technology M&A deals stood at US$128.66bn, against the overall value of US$243.37bn recorded for the month.

The top five technology industry deals of Q4 2020 tracked by GlobalData were:

• S&P Global’s US$44bn acquisition of IHS Markit

• The US$35bn acquisition of Xilinx by Advanced Micro Devices

• Salesforce.Com’s US$27.7bn acquisition of Slack Technologies

• The US$11.69bn asset transaction with CK Hutchison Holdings by Cellnex Telecom

• Marvell Technology Group’s acquisition of Inphi for US$10.27bn.