Brazil M&A Tops $62 Billion

Brazilian mergers and acquisitions totaled $62.68 billion (131.7 billion reais) last year, an increase of 237% over the previous year, according to Associação Nacional dos Bancos de Investimento (Anbid). The figure includes public share offerings and corporate restructurings. The amount of “pure” M&A transactions rose 348%, from $9.52 billion to $42.69 billion (20 billion reais to 89.7 billion reais). Of these, 67% or $53.95 billion were accounted for by deals involving foreign acquisitions. Even when CVRD’s acquisition of Canada’s Inco is removed, these transactions grew by 125% compared with 2005.