There was a considerable decline in the number and value of merger and acquisition (M&A) deals announced in the consumer sector since the start of the year.

According to the research data analyzed and published by Stock Apps, the number of M&A deals in the global consumer sector dropped from 2,922 to 2,244 in the first nine months of 2020. Deal value also dropped by 50.3% during the period, going from $278 billion to $138 billion.

Overall M&A activity in APAC has, however, shown resilience during the pandemic. Some sectors in its economy actually experienced growth during Q1 to Q3 2020. These are the telecommunication (19%) life sciences (9%) and utilities (9%) industries.

APAC High-Value Deals Reach $392 Billion in Q3 2020, Highest on Record

A report from Global Data reveals that Goldman Sachs took the lead in consumer M&A deal activity, advising on 23 deals worth $21.1 billion from Q1 to Q3 2020. PwC led in deal volume, advising on 25 deals worth $3.5 billion.

During H1 2020, deal value in APAC decreased by 17% compared according to Mergemarkets. Comparatively, it declined by 31% in Europe and 72% in the US during the same period.

Similarly, deal volume in the first nine months of 2020 dropped 8% in APAC. In contrast, the US saw a 20% drop while EMEA declined by 15%.

However, for the APAC region as a whole, high-value deals reached $392 billion in Q3 2020, the highest figure on record for any third quarter. In Q3 2020, China topped deal activity in APAC with a 29.5% share of total deal volume. Japan was second with a 15.9% share and India took the third spot with 15.7%. China had a 44.2% share of total deal value during the quarter, followed by Japan at 25.9%.

On a global scale, the pandemic slowed down M&A activity significantly, with the April deal volume being 80% lower than in December 2019. As of mid-September, there had only been 15 mega deals, compared to 27 during the same period in 2019.