M&A deals soar by 70%, but SME deals hindered by lack of confidence

Deal-making at the big end of town isn’t flowing through to small and medium-sized enterprises, with poor confidence hindering takeovers and equity injections in the SME space.

Figures from Thomson Reuters show Australia was the fourth-largest market for mergers and acquisitions so far this year, behind the United States, United Kingdom and China. Deals involving Australian companies totalled $US142.8 billion for the nine months to September, just under the record reached in 2007.

While the result is surprisingly strong, and underpinned by deals in the resources sector such as BHP Billiton’s $US12 billion purchase of Petrohawk Energy Corp, Thomson Reuters says the number of deals was actually lower.