Both Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) saw declining mergers and acquisitions activity in just about every European country with the notable exception of France, which has had more mergers and acquisitions activity than it did at the same point last year.
The value of French companies that were purchased this year as of Tuesday reached $62.4 billion, topping last year’s year-to-date total according to information from Dealogic and the Wall Street Journal. This news followed the announcement of Alstom SA and Schneider Electric’s SA bid of $6.1 billion for a French nuclear firm called Areva SA.
France has now surpassed Spain as the most targeted European country for businesses to be purchased in, behind the U.K, Germany and Netherlands. France is currently the country that has had more mergers and acquisitions deals than it had at this point last year. M&A activity is down 48% in the U.K., 52% in Germany and 45% in Spain.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which is advising the Alstom and Schneider deal, has done the most mergers and acquisitions deals in France this year, bringing together a total of 15 deals valued at $40.43 billion. JP Morgan had the second most deals and BNP Paribas was third.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch had a particularly strong showing in France in spite of the departure of Marc Pandraud, its former head of French and Benelux corporate investment banking earlier in the year. Pandraud, as well as three of his colleagues, left Bank of America Merrill Lynch in March to join its rival Deutsche Bank.
