Latin America M&A’s Fall 27 Percent

The $6.3 billion acquisition of Brazilian meat processor Bertin by its larger rival JBS was Latin Americas top deal last year, according to the fifth annual ranking of Latin Americas Top 100 M&As from Latin Business Chronicle and Thomson Reuters.  

Other top deals included the purchase of food company Sadia by its larger rival Perdigao and France-based communications company Vivendis acquisition of GVT, Brazil’s fourth-largest high-speed Internet provider.

As expected, 2009 was a bad year for mergers and acquisitions globally and Latin America was no exception. The value of announced deals in the region fell by 27.1 percent to $106.4 billion. That decline was smaller than what areas like Eastern Europe, Russia and India saw, but higher than those of Asia Pacific, including China.

Brazil, which continued to dominate Latin America’s M&A sector, saw a decline of 26.5 percent to $72.5 billion.

Brazil also dominated the 100 largest deals, accounting for ...

Keywords: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, Mexico, 2010 Outlook, Peru, Spain, United States, Venezuela, White & Case

Rankings & Reports
Ranking: Latin Americas Top 100 M&As

Legal M&A Advisors: Top Winners

Financial M&A Advisors: Credit Suisse Leads