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Dubai / Emirates Business
Mergermarket, the leading provider of M&A data and intelligence, has published its Q1 2017 M&A Brief for the Middle East. The report shows that the Middle East has benefitted from foreign and domestic investment in Industrials & Chemicals, with the sector driving Q1 M&A to reach its highest value in eight years (16 deals, worth US$5.5 billion), increasing 61.8% compared to the final quarter of 2016 (19 deals totalling US$3.4 billion). Mergermarket’s MENA Mergers 2017 forum will take place in Dubai on May 8.
Record value was driven by two sizeable deals of over US$ 1 billion, including US-based Tronox Limited making a US$ 2.2 billion acquisition of Saudi Arabia’s National Titanium Dioxide Company, accounting for 40% of total regional M&A value. As a consequence, the Industrials & Chemicals sector was the most targeted, representing 55% of total Middle East deals, with total value hitting US$3 billion across just three transactions. The second largest deal of the quarter was the US$1.1bn acquisition of a 19.83% stake in Arab Bank Group (Jordan) from Saudi Oger Limited, by a group of investors led by Sabih El-Masry.
Other top deals included SABIC acquisition of 50% stake in Saudi Arabia Petrochemical Co. from Royal Dutch Shell Plc for $ 820 million., as well
as Amazon.com’s acquisition of the UAE’s Souq.com for $ 650 million.