The number of deals announced in the global retail sector decreased by 20.5% during the week ended May 24, 2020, compared to the previous week, according to GlobalData’s deals database.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Deal activity in the retail sector has remained inconsistent since the COVID-19 outbreak and the decline during this week followed growth in deal volume witnessed during the previous week.”

Deal activity has also remained inconsistent across geographies since the COVID-19 outbreak. While deal activity decreased in the US during the week ended May 24 compared to the previous week, the UK and China witnessed growth in deal volume.

Deal types such as venture financing, equity offerings and debt offerings witnessed decline in volume during the week ended May 24, 2020, compared to the previous week while private equity deal volume increased and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deal volume remained at the same level.