Power and utilities deals reach more than double to $74.3bn in Q3
Global power and utilities deals rose 141% QoQ to a two-year high of $74.3bn in Q3, helped by a nine-fold increase in activity in the Americas to $53bn, according to EY. In Europe, power and utilities deals increased 60% to $16.9bn, while in Asia they fell 68% to $4.3bn. The EY Power and Utilities Capital Confidence Barometer predicts continued strong performance in the sector and said more than half of executives were preparing to "actively pursue" acquisitions in the next year.
Power and utilities (P&U) deals globally reached USD 74.3 billion (EUR 63m) in the third quarter of 2017, which is a two-year high and a surge of 141% from the second quarter, consultancy firm EY calculates.

The Americas accounted for 71% of the total, or USD 53 billion, shows EY’s Power transactions and trends Q3 2017 report. The quarter-on-quarter increase of 798% was due to five megadeals, representing 96% of the deal value in the Americas. Renewables deals, however, fell by 94% from the second quarter to just USD 180 million. Most were conducted by corporate investors.

P&U deals in Europe also jumped, by 60% to USD 16.9 billion, amid better-than-expected economic activity. There were 35 renewable energy deals for a total of USD 3.2 billion. In the quarter under review, deals in wind energy assets surpassed those in solar. There were 15 wind deals, including one in combination with solar, with a total value of USD 2.8 billion.

In the Asia-Pacific there was a 68% quarterly drop in deal value to USD 4.3 billion. At USD 3.3 billion, deals in renewables accounted for 77% of the region’s total. M&A in geothermal energy led the list with USD 1.3 billion in value, while solar and wind farm deals together contributed USD 1.4 billion.

According to the biannual EY Power and Utilities Capital Confidence Barometer (CCB), strong activity is set to continue. The consultancy said that 79% of executives are expecting the global economy to improve in the next 12 months, with 51% preparing to actively pursue acquisitions.

The US and Germany are the most attractive P&U investment destinations and Brazil, Australia and China complete the top five.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.85)

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