What Were the Largest Merger and Acquisition Deals of 2021?
According to data revealed by Intellizence, there were 119 mergers and acquisition deals in just 2021 alone. This is 600% more than the deals signed in 2020. This increase shows that the world has moved on to post-COVID-19 recovery and is focusing on rebuilding the global economy.
The Big Five
On May 17th, Discovery Inc. and AT&T Inc.’s WarnerMedia division announced an M&A agreement. This was the largest transaction in 2021, and it is a $43 billion agreement between two entertainment companies. WarnerMedia and Discovery will combine operations to form a new entertainment company, structuring the deal as a Reverse Morris Trust transaction.
A month before the deal, US investment company Altimeter Growth Corp. and Southeast Asia technology company Grab Holdings Inc. announced that they had signed a $40 billion deal. This was the second-largest M&A deal of the year. Grab went public after signing the agreement with Altimeter Growth.
Canadian National Railway and Kansas City Southern signed the third-largest deal of 2021. On May 21st, they announced their intentions to merge in a $33.6 billion deal to create an express route from Mexico through the US to Canada. But, in September, Kansas City Southern terminated this deal and agreed with Canadian Pacific Railway Limited to acquire Kansas City for $31 billion and create the same US — Mexico — Canada rail network.
Lionheart Acquisition Corporation II and MSP Recovery announced on July 12th that they signed a Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC) deal valued at $32.6 billion. This was the fourth most significant deal of 2021 in dollar value. MSP will go public as part of the transaction, though it is yet to be listed.
The fifth-largest deal of 2021 was signed on March 10th. Aircraft leasing company AerCap Holdings N.V. and G.E. Capital Aviation Services, owned by General Electric Company, announced that they had signed a deal valued at $30 billion. The sale was a divestiture for G.E. to create an industry-leading aviation lessor with a broader offering and better ability to serve customers through industry cycles.
What Other Deals Made the Top Ten?
The acquisition of Shaw Communications by Rogers Communications for $26 billion was the sixth-largest deal of 2021. The merged business has already pledged to build $2.5 billion in 5G infrastructure in Western Canada over the next half-decade.
In December, a computer software company, Oracle Corporation, acquired health-tech company Cerner Corporation for $28.3 billion in equity value, making it the seventh-largest deal for 2021. Novartis sold its one-third voting stake in Roche back to its pharmaceutical rival for $20.7 billion, which untangled the two pharma companies after two decades. This was the eighth largest deal.
Microsoft’s $19.7 billion purchase of Nuance Communications, which was announced in April, is the ninth-largest deal of 2021, and it sealed the tech company’s expansion into the healthcare industry. The tenth-largest agreement of 2021 was Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.’s acquisition of Pharmaceutical Product Development, PPD Inc. for $17.4 billion, bringing together a pioneer in scientific instruments with a leader in clinical research services.
These mergers and acquisition deals are leading investments in their respective industries. They will continue to work to bridge the gap in innovations, research, supply chain simplification, and service delivery across the globe.
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