Global law firm, Clyde & Co have recently analysed a drop in insurance industry M&A activity worldwide.
In the first 6 months of this year, there were 170 deals compared to 186 in the preceding period with deals in Asia Pacific decreasing by almost 40 percent to 22 (from 36). This is mainly due to monetary controls in China.
Brexit has had a major impact on European insurance M&A with deals down 28 percent in the first half of 2017 while the Americas increased its deals from 81 to 86 along with the Middle East and Africa region that also increased from just 2 to 8 deals.
The outlook is more positive with Chinese regulatory challenges expected to ease along with other political and economic uncertainties also set to balance out.
“While insurers continue to consider all the tools at their disposal in the quest for growth, there is good reason to expect that more M&A will get over the line in the coming six months,” commented Andrew Holderness, global head of Clyde & Co’s corporate insurance group.
