M&A deals set for new record

The value of UK mergers and acquisitions this year is set to bust the previous 1989 record of pounds 47.2bn because of merger mania in the electricity industry. According to the magazine Acquisitions Monthly, M&A deals during the first nine months of totalled pounds 40.3bn, soaring past the pounds 13.7bn for the same period last year, and pounds 25.3bn for the whole of 1994. The value of remaining deals in the electricity sector totals pounds 10bn, the magazine says.

National Power's pounds 2.8bn bid for Southern Electric and Texas Energy Partners' increased bid for Norweb of pounds 1.74 are just two examples. In contrast the number of deals stayed static at 50 for the first nine months. Lazards topped the table for deals by value at pounds 10.7bn, followed by Barings, Morgan Stanley, Robert Fleming and NM Rothschild.