M&A Deal Announcements to Increase in 1H 2016, but Rising Global Economic and Financial Volatility Clouds Outlook

The Intralinks Deal Flow Predictor (DFP), an indicator of future mergers and acquisitions (M&A) announcements with a proven track record for accuracy, forecasts continued growth in the global number of M&A deals to be announced in the first half of 2016. Global M&A deal volumes are predicted to increase by 3.5 percent in 1H 2016 compared to 1H 2015, a lower rate of growth than in 2015, as increased global economic and financial volatility, as well as likely further U.S. interest rate rises in 2016, affect dealmaking confidence. The sectors showing the highest increases in global early-stage M&A activity are Consumer, Telecommunications, Healthcare, Real Estate, Industrials, and Energy & Power, while High Technology, Materials, Retail, and Media & Entertainment are showing declines in early-stage deal activity.

“2015 was a record-breaking year for M&A and our current forecast is for a continued, albeit reduced, level of M&A growth through the first half of 2016,” said Matt Porzio, Vice President of M&A Strategy and Product Marketing at Intralinks. “Despite global market fluctuations at the beginning of this year, based on our insights into early-stage M&A activity, we are predicting global growth due to a bounce back in Asia Pacific (APAC), continued strong growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), a continued recovery in Latin America (LATAM) and a reversal of last quarter’s decline in North America (NA).

The Intralinks DFP forecasts the volume of future M&A deal announcements by tracking the number of early-stage M&A deals that are in preparation or have reached the due diligence stage. On average, these deals are six months away from their public announcement. The Intralinks DFP has been independently verified as an accurate predictor of the number of future M&A deal announcements.

The Intralinks DFP’s findings are consistent with the responses to Intralinks’ latest quarterly Global M&A Sentiment Survey, which polled M&A dealmakers in December 2015 and involved responses from a total of 680 M&A professionals. The survey’s findings included the following:

• Globally, the percentage of dealmakers who are optimistic about the current deal environment rose to 50 percent compared to 43 percent in the previous quarter’s survey;
• 48 percent of respondents in NA are optimistic about the current deal environment – making NA the region with the lowest such percentage;
• 63 percent of respondents in EMEA are optimistic about the current deal environment – making EMEA the region with the highest such percentage;
• 49 percent of respondents in LATAM are pessimistic about the current deal environment – the highest percentage in that region since Q3 2013;
• 51 percent of respondents in APAC are optimistic about the current deal environment, up from 46% in the previous quarter’s survey;
• Respondents in all regions cited either a global economic slowdown and/or geopolitical instability as having the potential to significantly impact on M&A activity in the first half of 2016; and
• Dealmakers in APAC are the most concerned about a slowdown in Chinese economic growth having an impact on M&A activity in their region over the next six months, at 68 percent, with NA the least concerned at 35 percent. In comparison, 43 percent and 36 percent, respectively, of dealmakers in LATAM and EMEA expect a slowdown in Chinese economic growth to have an impact on M&A activity in their region over the next six months.

Download the complete Intralinks DFP report.

About the Intralinks Deal Flow Predictor

The Intralinks Deal Flow Predictor provides Intralinks' perspective on the level of M&A due diligence activity taking place during any given period of time. The statistics contained in the Intralinks DFP represent the volume of VDRs opened, or proposed to be opened, through Intralinks or other providers for the purpose of conducting due diligence on proposed transactions including asset sales, divestitures, private placements, financings, capital raises, joint ventures and partnerships. These statistics are not adjusted for changes in Intralinks' share of the VDR market or changes in market demand for VDR services. These statistics may not correlate to the volume of completed transactions that may be reported by market data providers and should not be construed to represent the volume of transactions that will ultimately be consummated during any period of time. Indications of future completed deal activity derived from the Intralinks DFP are based on assumed rates of deals going from due diligence stage to completion. In addition, the statistics reported by market data providers may be compiled with a different set of transaction types than those set forth above.

THIS PRESS RELEASE AND THE INTRALINKS DFP (COLLECTIVELY THE "MATERIALS") ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. INTRALINKS MAKES NO GUARANTEE, REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND REGARDING THE TIMELINESS, ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENT OF THE MATERIALS. THESE MATERIALS ARE BASED ON INTRALINKS' OBSERVATIONS AND SUBJECTIVE INTERPRETATIONS OF DUE DILIGENCE ACTIVITY TAKING PLACE, OR PROPOSED TO TAKE PLACE, ON INTRALINKS' OR OTHER PROVIDERS' VDR PLATFORMS FOR A LIMITED SET OF TRANSACTION TYPES. THESE MATERIALS ARE NOT INTENDED TO BE AN INDICATOR OF INTRALINKS' BUSINESS PERFORMANCE OR OPERATING RESULTS FOR ANY PRIOR, CURRENT OR FUTURE PERIOD, NOR ARE THESE MATERIALS INTENDED TO PROMISE, GUARANTEE OR ASSURE FUTURE LEVELS OF COMPLETED DEAL ACTIVITY. THESE MATERIALS ARE NOT INTENDED TO CONVEY INVESTMENT ADVICE OR SOLICIT INVESTMENTS OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER.

THE INTRALINKS DFP MAY BE USED SOLELY FOR PERSONAL, NON-COMMERCIAL USE. THE CONTENTS OF THE INTRALINKS DFP MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED, DISTRIBUTED OR PUBLISHED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF INTRALINKS. FOR PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH INTRALINKS DFP CONTENT, PLEASE CONTACT info@intralinks.com.

About Intralinks

Intralinks Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:IL) is a leading global technology provider of secure enterprise content collaboration solutions. Through innovative Software-as-a-Service solutions, Intralinks software is designed to enable the exchange and control of information between organizations securely and compliantly when working through the firewall. More than 3.3 million professionals at 99% of the Fortune 1000 companies have depended on Intralinks' experience. With a track record of enabling high-stakes transactions and business collaborations valued at more than $28.1 trillion, Intralinks is a trusted provider of easy-to-use, enterprise strength, cloud-based collaboration solutions. For more information, visit www.intralinks.com.

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