NEW YORK-Communications companies dominated merger and acquisition activity in 1999, accounting for $304.8 billion in transactions and 21.5 percent of the dollar amount of deals whose dollar values were disclosed.
The communications sector also moved up a notch to first place from its 1998 ranking, when it was second only to the financial services industry. During 1998, merger and acquisition activity involving U.S. communications companies accounted for $170.1 billion, or 14.3 percent of the overall total.
Communications also accounted for three of the largest 10 mergers in 1999, according to Mergerstat, a division of Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, a Los Angeles-based investment bank, including: MCI WorldCom Inc.’s $116 billion bid for Sprint Corp.; Vodafone Group plc’s $62.8 billion acquisition of AirTouch Communications Inc.; and Qwest Communications’ $34.7 billion offer for U S West Inc.
The MCI WorldCom-Sprint combo, announced in October, also ranks as the largest merger in any industry announced last year. It dwarfed the second-largest of the 28 transactions announced by wireless telecommunications companies during the fourth quarter-BellSouth Corp.’s $9.4 billion acquisition of E-Plus Mobilfunk GmbH.
Houlihan Lokey’s Mergerstat tracks publicly announced mergers and acquisitions involving U.S. business entities. As it released its year-end 1999 transaction activity report, Mergerstat Holdings L.P. announced it completed its own merger with Corpfin Ltd., Manchester, England.
Corpfin tracks European merger and acquisition activity. The merged company, now called Applied Financial Information, also plans future tracking of corporate finance information in Asia, said Scott Adelson, its new chairman.
