Deal value reached £23.5bn in the quarter, an increase of 27% on Q4 2012, and 46% on the total £16bn in Q1 2012.
In terms of deal volume, however, there was a decline from 275 in the last quarter of 2012 to 213, while UK cross-border outbound activity reached its lowest level since 2001. At £3bn it also represented a decline of 53% on the same time last year.
UK-based private equity-backed buyouts, meanwhile, accounted for just $2.9bn of the total global quarterly deal value $87bn, a fall of around $10bn from the previous quarter, and a year-on-year drop of around half.
Sofia Cerqueira, reporter at MergerMarket, said: “The Virgin Media deal at £14bn accounted for a significant proportion of total deal value, and of course we don’t see deals of this size in the UK every quarter. The remaining 209 deals were valued at a combined £8bn.
“Opportunities in the current market are being analysed more carefully and deals are taking longer to complete, while dealmakers remain very sensitive to what’s going on in the wider economy.
“That said, optimism is increasing and access to finance is more readily available so we are likely to see increased momentum in the deals market during the course of the year.”
