IDC: Enterprise application deals led way for M&A activity last year
While this blog has previously reported on the future of business mergers and acquisitions being strong, there is other research to suggest that stable ground already exists. With strong showings in the enterprise application sector and the mobile industry, there were many instances of M&A activity last year.
A report from research firm IDC showed that in 2012, enterprise application activity dominated the mergers and acquisitions market. Last year, the sector reached $50.5 billion, the largest portion of the disclosed value of information and communication technology (ICT) M&A deals.
Dan Yachin, research director of emerging technologies for IDC EMEA, said in a press release that one of the most important opportunities to surface in 2012 was the third platform, which was build on cloud, mobile, big data and social technologies.
"As companies move to invest more heavily in these technologies for the future, there was a burst of M&A activity as vendors sought to position themselves for this critical shift in the market," he said. "IDC tracked 710 deals – 18.6 percent of all M&A deals in 2012 – associated with the four technologies that constitute the new platform."
Yachin added that IDC expects the third platform to continue to be an important driver of M&A activity going forward, helping to push activity levels toward an upward trend.
Constellation Software, Google and Facebook acquired the most companies last year, with 18, 17 and 15 deals respectively. The report also showed that the United States remained the most popular location for business mergers and acquisitions, with 65.3 percent of the worldwide total.