THE MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS REVIEW 2012

South Africa continued to feel the effects of a sluggish global economy, albeit on a more limited basis as compared with the rest of the world. After the financial crisis at the end of 2008, mergers and acquisitions started picking up again in the early part of 2010 and this trend continued into 2011. In the early part of 2012 fewer large deals were announced, but anecdotally, there are large deals in the pipeline that could result in announced deals when greater market confidence returns. Most recent M&A activity has been in the small to mid-cap sectors and between unlisted entities. M&A activity has also been more pronounced in cross-border deals in South Africa, inward investment into South Africa and investment from South Africa into other African jurisdictions. Many of the recent transactions (particularly in the resources sector) have involved Chinese, Indian, Japanese and US parties.