Following a strong showing in the first half of this year, global merger and acquisition activity suffered in the third quarter with deals worth just $674 billion, says a report.
According to global deal tracking firm Mergermarket, the third quarter of 2017 has seen just $674 billion, the lowest quarterly value since the first quarter of 2016 when 4,349 deals worth $623.4 billion took place.
Following the poor showing in the third quarter, the deal tally for the first nine months of this year stood at $2.2 trillion, down 1.7 per cent over the corresponding period last year when transactions worth $2.25 trillion were announced.
"As firms attempt to adapt to ever-changing political and technological circumstances, global M&A has stuttered over the summer following a strong showing in the first half of the year," Mergermarket said the report.
The largest deal of the quarter (July-September) saw the tie-up of aerospace firms United Technologies and Rockwell Collins for $29.9 billion.
This became the second largest deal in the US in 2017, only behind the mammoth $60.6 billion BAT/Reynolds announcement in January, and forms the largest US domestic deal so far this year, the report said.
The report further noted that the US M&A accounted for 40.9 per cent of global M&A in the July-September quarter by value.
Meanwhile, Europe has faltered in the July-September period with its lowest quarterly value since the October- December quarter of 2012 at $158 billion.
"This left Europe with a 29.8 per cent share of the global M&A value the lowest quarterly share of 2017 so far...," the report added.