A total of 1,120 deals were announced globally during the week ended May 10, 2020, which is a decrease of 1% over 1,131 deals announced during the previous week, according to GlobalData’s deals database.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Global deal activity has remained inconsistent due to volatile market conditions since the COVID-19 outbreak and this decline was after two consecutive weeks of growth in deal volume. The number of deals announced during the week was also lower than the Q1 2020 weekly average levels. However, it was more than the weekly average levels of April 2020.”

Deal activity decreased in some of the key markets during the week ended May 10, 2020 compared to the previous week. Deals volume declined in the UK (by 15.7%), China (45.9%), South Korea (37%), Japan (64.7%) and India (23.1%). Meanwhile, the US, Canada, Australia and Germany witnessed growth in the number of announced deals by 22.6%, 23.9%, 8.5% and 8%, respectively.

Deal activity in sectors such as healthcare (including pharmaceuticals and medical equipment) and travel & tourism improved during the week ended May 10, 2020 compared to the previous week, while the retail sector witnessed decline.

Most of the key deal types witnessed decline in deal volume. While private equity and venture financing deals volume decreased by 7.3% and 15.4% during the week ended May 10, 2020 compared to the previous week, the number of equity offerings and partnership deals decreased by 4.6% and 10.4%, respectively. However, the number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and licensing agreement deals grew by 6% and 38.5%, respectively.