Figures issued by Bureau Van Dijk and Zephyr show that there were 154 merger & acquisition (M&A) deals targeting companies in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region for a total value of $25.7bn in the first quarter of 2018. In comparison, there were 180 M&A deals worth a total of $13.1bn in the first quarter of 2017. The figures reflect an increase of 95.7% in the value of deals and a decline of 14.4% in their volume year-on-year in the first quarter of the year. The value of M&A transactions in the UAE reached $19.8bn in the first quarter of 2018, which constitutes 77.2% of the region's aggregate deal value in the covered period. Saudi Arabia followed with M&A deals of $1.8bn (7.2%), then Egypt with $1.2bn (4.8%), Morocco with $1.1bn (4.5%), Oman with $605m (2.4%), Libya with $450m (1.8%), Qatar with $371m (1.4%), and Lebanon with $206m (0.8%), while the remaining $328m worth of deals, or 1.3% of the total, targeted Bahrain, Jordan, Iran and Tunisia. In volume terms, the UAE had 45 M&A deals in the first quarter of the year, followed by Jordan and Egypt with 26 transactions each, Saudi Arabia and Oman with 16 transactions each, Morocco with 11 deals and Lebanon with four deals, while the remaining deals targeted seven other MENA countries. In addition, the value of M&A deals targeting companies in the banking sector reached $18.6bn in the first quarter of 2018, followed by the primary sector with $2.3bn, the insurance sector with $1.2bn, the education and healthcare sectors with $611m, the construction sector with $608m, and the food, beverages & tobacco sector with $541m. 
Source: Zephyr, Bureau Van Dijk, Byblos Research