To The Moon

Global M&A activity hits the brakes in the Q1 of 2022, the amount of activities fell to its lowest level since the 2019 pandemic period as the soaring inflation, regulatory escalation and the Ukraine war influenced.

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According to Refinitiv data, the total M&A deal worth in Q1 2022 just over $1 trillion, a decline of 23% y-o-y.

Data by financial data company Dealogic showes that the scale of global cross-border M&A also fell by 29% in Q1 of this year.

M&A activity declined across all continents: North America accounted for more than half of M&A deals in Q1 with a 28% drop in deal volume y-o-y, the size of M&A in Asia Pacific fell 33% to $184.2 billion. European deal size fell 25% to $227.67 billion.

Below are the top 10 global M&A deals accounced in Q1 2022,also the fluctuations of related stocks:

01-Game Developer $Take-Two(TTWO)$ Announced the Acquisition of  $Zynga(ZNGA)$

January 10th, 2022, Take-Two announced that it would acquire social game developer Zynga at an approximately value of $12.7 billion in cash and stock. The deal is expected to close by the end of June this year.

Since the announcement of the merger, the share price of $(TTWO)$ has declined, and $(ZNGA)$ has not been much volatile since the announcement.

02- $Microsoft(MSFT)$ Agreed to Buy $Activision Blizzard(ATVI)$ for $75 billion

January 20th, 2022, Microsoft agreed to acquire Activision Blizzard in an all-cash deal worth approximately $75 billion.

After adjusting for Activision Blizzard's net cash, the deal is valued at $68.7 billion and is expected to close by July 2023.

Microsoft said the deal would make it the world's third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind China's Tencent Holdings and Japan's Sony Group.

Since the announcement of the merger, the stock price of $(MSFT)$ has fluctuated, and $(ATVI)$ has fallen slightly from the highest price since the announcement.

03- $Citrix(CTXS)$ to be Acquired by Affiliates of Vista Equity Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital for $16.5 Billion

February 1, 2022, the US cloud computing company Citrix Systems announced that it will be acquired and privatized in an all-cash manner by Evergreen Coast Capital, the private equity investment arm of Vista Equity Partners and Elliott Investment Management LP.

The deal, valued at $16.5 billion (including taking on Citrix's debt), is expected to close in mid-2022.

Vista and Evergreen intend to combine Citrix with one of Vista's portfolio companies, TIBCO Software, to create one of the world's largest software providers, serving 400,000 customers and 100 million users in 100 countries.

Since the news, Shares of $CTXS$ have remained relatively flat.

04-Two of the Largest U.S. Budget Airlines Agreed to Merge

On February 8, 2022, $Frontier Group Holdings, Inc.(ULCC)$ and $Spirit Airlines(SAVE)$ , the two largest budget airlines in the United States, agreed to merge to become the fifth largest airline in the United States, which may intensify competition with traditional airlines.

Under the merger agreement, Frontier Airlines will acquire Spirit Airlines for $2.9 billion in cash and stock in a deal valued at $6.6 billion. Ultimately Frontier will own 51.5% of the combined company, while Spirit will own the remaining 48.5%. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2022.

The name of the combined airline has not yet been determined. The companies pledged to avoid any layoffs as much as possible by 2026, and will directly add 10,000 jobs. The merger agreement between the two companies is subject to approval by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The above is the current stock performance of the two companies, $(SAVE)$ performed better than $(ULCC)$.

05- $Celanese(CE)$ Anounced to Acquire Part of $DuPont de Nemours Inc(DD)$ 's Business

On February 21, 2022, chemical and specialty materials company Celanese announced that it will acquire the majority of DuPont's Mobility & Materials business for $11 billion in cash. The business produce Polymers and resins for automobiles.

The transaction will be the largest M&A in the global chemical industry since 2020. At the same time, it will also be Celanese's largest acquisition since its establishment, and the transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

Since the news was released, the trends of the two stocks have been relatively consistent.

06-Saudi Aramco Gas Pipelines Company Sells 49% Stake

March 1st, 2022, Saudi Aramco announced that a consortium of global investors will acquire a 49% stake in its subsidiary, Aramco Gas Pipelines Company, for $15.5 billion.

Saudi Aramco retains a 51 percent majority stake in Aramco Gas Pipelines and retains full ownership and operational control of the gas pipeline network.

Saudi Arabia plans to sell about $50 billion (about 2.5%) in 2022 and plans to list more of the company's shares. The company also has an agreement with BlackRock to continue exploring low-carbon energy projects.

07- $Toronto Dominion Bank (ON)(TDBKF)$   going to aquire  $First Horizon Corporation(FHNNP)$ .

On March 2, 2022, Canada-based Toronto-Dominion Bank announced that it would acquire U.S.-based bank First Horizon Corp. to extend operations in the Southeastern United States.

The acquisition will make Toronto-Dominion Bank the sixth-largest U.S. bank by assets, with approximately $614 billion in assets and operations in 22 U.S. states. The transaction is scheduled to close in the first quarter of TD's fiscal 2023.

As you can see from the chart above, First Horizon Corp. stock has outperformed Toronto-Dominion Bank.

08- $ Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)$ announced acquisition of $Alleghany Corp(Y)$ for $11.6 billion

On March 21, 2022, Berkshire Hathaway, the flagship company of Warren Buffett, announced that it would acquire the insurance company Alleghany for $11.6 billion.

Founded in 1929 and headquartered in New York, Alleghany initially operated a railroad business and then transformed into an insurance and investment company, currently engaged in treasury and accident reinsurance, as well as insurance through subsidiaries and investments.

The transaction, expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022, will see Alleghany operate as an independent subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. The acquisition is also Berkshire's largest since 2016.

In terms of stock price, the acquired company $(Y)$ has risen sharply, and$( BRK.A)$ is also one of the few U.S. stocks that has not fallen this year.

09- Private equity firm ThomaBravo announced $10.7 billion acquisition of $Anaplan Inc.(PLAN)$

On March 21, 2022, US private equity firm ThomaBravo announced has reached a deal to acquire enterprise cloud computing software provider Anaplan for $10.7 billion in cash.

Anaplan CEO Frank Calderoni plans to continue leading the company. Headquartered in San Francisco, Anaplan develops software that helps companies plan by modeling different forecast outcomes.

The company has more than 1,900 customers worldwide, including Coca-Cola, Shell and VMware, which use Anaplan's cloud-based products to manage their sales operations, supply chain, inventory and financial planning.

The price of Anaplan has been fluctuating slightly after the spike to the news.

10- Private equity consortium anounced to buy $ Nielsen Holdings PLC (NLSN)$ for $16 billion

On March 30, 2022, TV ratings firm Nielsen Holdings announced a definitive privatization agreement with a private equity consortium led by Elliott Investment Management subsidiaries Evergreen Coast Capital and Brookfield Business Partners, as well as institutional partners, for a total of about $16 billion for an all-cash (including debt assumption) acquisition of the company.

The Nielsen board voted unanimously in support of the proposed acquisition. The transaction is also subject to Nielsen shareholder approval, regulatory approvals, consultation with the Works Council and other customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2022.

NLSN See great risen for the past month.