Top M&A advisers in the Middle East and Africa in H1 revealed

Deal activity in the region remained subdued amid volatile market conditions

Bank of America led the way in terms of deal value in the first half of 2022. AFP

Bank of America and Rothschild & Co ranked as the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in the Middle East and Africa for the first half of this year by value and volume of deals, respectively, a new report says.

Bank of America advised on almost $7 billion worth of deals from January to the end of June, while Rothschild & Co advised on 10 deals valued at $1.1bn, placing it ahead of Deloitte with seven and Goldman Sachs with five, the latest Financial Advisers League Table by data and analytics company GlobalData showed.

A total of 609 M&A deals worth $46.2bn were announced in the region during the first half of the year, according to Global Data.

"Owing to volatile market conditions, deal activity in Middle East Africa remained subdued with the region experiencing decline in deal value in Q2 2022 compared to Q2 2021 and the previous quarter as well," GlobalData said in its report.

The technology sector dominated the M&A landscape in the region with the highest volume and value of deals in the first six months of the year.

Meanwhile, the power sector registered growth in volume as well as value on an annual basis.

The biggest deal in the region was Geneva-based MSC Mediterranean Shipping's acquisition of South Africa's Bollore Africa Logistics in March for $6.4bn. This was followed by Intel acquiring Israel's Tower Semiconductor for $5.4bn in February.

The biggest deal globally was Broadcom acquiring VMware for $69bn in May, followed by Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7bn in January.