UK tech sector "most acquisitive" in Europe

Latest data from Ernst & Young shows UK in second place globally behind the US

The UK is number two globally the technology acquisition race, and top in Europe, according to Ernst & Young’s latest research.

Its Global Technology M&A update, October, December 2010 and year in review report, reveals that the UK has overtaken Japan with a 66 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of technology M&A deals in 2010.

The top 10 most acquisition countries in terms of technology acquisitions were the US, UK, China, France, Japan, Germany, Canada, India, Sweden and Australia.

In addition the UK’s private equity technology market continues to rebound strongly with 2010 performing strongly in comparison to 2009, with M&A deals up 67 per cent compared with 2009.

The number of global technology M&A deals increased 27 per cent in Q4 2010, with the full year number of companies and private equity deals increasing 41 per cent (2,658) and total deal value jumping 26 per cent over 2009.

Three ‘megatrends’ stood out in 2010 – smart mobility, smart everything and ‘cross industry blur’.

But 2010 also saw the rise of information security, cloud computing and social networking as trends that drove a number of deals.

Joe Steger, global and Americas transaction advisory services leader of technology at Ernst & Young, said: “In 2010, technology M&A was defined by the way in which three technology trends — smart mobility, social networking and cloud computing — were embraced by the global economy at large. This is propelling globalisation through cross-border deals, and the convergence of technology platforms with other industries through cross-industry deal activity.”

“All these trends are expected to accelerate, suggesting continued M&A growth in the sector in 2011,” Steger added.

Looking forward Ernst & Young expects continued growth in global technology M&A, particularly with the growth in new waves of technology. A ‘rapidly growing stockpile’ of cash on technology companies’ balance sheets also gives them the clout to make acquisitions, with the estimated amount of cash and investments held by the sector’s top 25 companies believed to be a staggering half a trillion dollars.

Steger added: “Global technology M&A growth will continue in 2011, pushed by truly exciting innovation in smart mobile technology, cloud computing and by the growing cash stockpiles that corporate boards are increasingly challenged to put to good use. We will see buybacks and dividends, and we’ll definitely see continued M&A — both for growth and for seizing strategic technologies.”